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September 6, 2024

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George Washington

George Washington was the first President of United States of America. He is also known as one of the Founding Fathers of United States. He has his face imprinted on the Mount Rushmore. George Washington is often called “Father of The Nation” in America.

George Washington was born to a wealthy family in Colonial Virginia on February 22, 1732. His family was into tobacco business. His father was Augustine Washington. He owned hundreds of slaves throughout his lifetime. He wanted to abolish slavery later on. His father died when he was 11. His older brother became the head of the family.

In 1755, George Washington became the Commander of Virginia Regiment. He married Martha Dandridge Custis in 159. She was the wealthy widow of Daniel Parke Custis. He was now one of the richest man in Virginia. Washington lived an aristocratic lifestyle. He liked to attend parties and dancing. He imported luxurious goods from England. In 1775 he became the Commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolution. Historian John Shy said that by 1783 George Washington was a mediocre military strategist. But he also said that he became a master political tactician.

December 23, 1783, George Washington resigned his as commander-in-chief. King George III called George Washington “the greatest character of his age”. However, his retirement was short-lived. George Washington attended the Constitutional Convention in 1987. He was unanimously elected as the First President of United States of America in 1789. He was also elected again in 1792. John Adams was his Vice-President. He was paid a yearly sum of $25,000. He originally declined the salary because of the reputation of being a public servant. He preferred the title Mr. President over the other majestic names proposed. Washington thus began the rise of the great nation known today as the United States of America.

George Washington retired from the presidency in March 1797. He returned to Mount Vernon with after that. Washington Served as the senior officer of the United States Army in 1798. George Washington died around 10 p.m. on December 14, 1799. He was aged 67 at the time of his death. George Washington’s last word was “Tis Well”. Cynanche trachealis was reported to be the reason for his death.

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George Washington

By: History.com Editors

Updated: June 25, 2024 | Original: October 29, 2009

George Washington (1732-99) was commander in chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War (1775-83) and served two terms as the first U.S. president, from 1789 to 1797. The son of a prosperous planter, Washington was raised in colonial Virginia. As a young man, he worked as a surveyor then fought in the French and Indian War (1754-63). 

During the American Revolution, he led the colonial forces to victory over the British and became a national hero. In 1787, he was elected president of the convention that wrote the U.S. Constitution. Two years later, Washington became America’s first president. Realizing that the way he handled the job would impact how future presidents approached the position, he handed down a legacy of strength, integrity and national purpose. Less than three years after leaving office, he died at his Virginia plantation, Mount Vernon, at age 67.

George Washington's Early Years

George Washington was born on February 22, 1732 , at his family’s plantation on Pope’s Creek in Westmoreland County, in the British colony of Virginia , to Augustine Washington (1694-1743) and his second wife, Mary Ball Washington (1708-89). George, the eldest of Augustine and Mary Washington’s six children, spent much of his childhood at Ferry Farm, a plantation near Fredericksburg, Virginia. After Washington’s father died when he was 11, it’s likely he helped his mother manage the plantation.

Did you know? At the time of his death in 1799, George Washington owned some 300 enslaved people. However, before his passing, he had become opposed to slavery, and in his will, he ordered that his enslaved workers be freed after his wife's death.

Few details about Washington’s early education are known, although children of prosperous families like his typically were taught at home by private tutors or attended private schools. It’s believed he finished his formal schooling at around age 15.

As a teenager, Washington, who had shown an aptitude for mathematics, became a successful surveyor. His surveying expeditions into the Virginia wilderness earned him enough money to begin acquiring land of his own.

In 1751, Washington made his only trip outside of America, when he traveled to Barbados with his older half-brother Lawrence Washington (1718-52), who was suffering from tuberculosis and hoped the warm climate would help him recuperate. Shortly after their arrival, George contracted smallpox. He survived, although the illness left him with permanent facial scars. In 1752, Lawrence, who had been educated in England and served as Washington’s mentor, died. Washington eventually inherited Lawrence’s estate, Mount Vernon , on the Potomac River near Alexandria, Virginia.

An Officer and Gentleman Farmer

In December 1752, Washington, who had no previous military experience, was made a commander of the Virginia militia. He saw action in the French and Indian War and was eventually put in charge of all of Virginia’s militia forces. By 1759, Washington had resigned his commission, returned to Mount Vernon and was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, where he served until 1774. In January 1759, he married Martha Dandridge Custis (1731-1802), a wealthy widow with two children. Washington became a devoted stepfather to her children; he and Martha Washington never had any offspring of their own.

In the ensuing years, Washington expanded Mount Vernon from 2,000 acres into an 8,000-acre property with five farms. He grew a variety of crops, including wheat and corn, bred mules and maintained fruit orchards and a successful fishery. He was deeply interested in farming and continually experimented with new crops and methods of land conservation.

George Washington During the American Revolution

Washington proved to be a better general than military strategist. His strength lay not in his genius on the battlefield but in his ability to keep the struggling colonial army together. His troops were poorly trained and lacked food, ammunition and other supplies (soldiers sometimes even went without shoes in winter). However, Washington was able to give them direction and motivation. His leadership during the winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge was a testament to his power to inspire his men to keep going.

By the late 1760s, Washington had experienced firsthand the effects of rising taxes imposed on American colonists by the British and came to believe that it was in the best interests of the colonists to declare independence from England. Washington served as a delegate to the First Continental Congress in 1774 in Philadelphia. By the time the Second Continental Congress convened a year later, the American Revolution had begun in earnest, and Washington was named commander in chief of the Continental Army.

Over the course of the grueling eight-year war, the colonial forces won few battles but consistently held their own against the British. In October 1781, with the aid of the French (who allied themselves with the colonists over their rivals the British), the Continental forces were able to capture British troops under General Charles Cornwallis (1738-1805) in the Battle of Yorktown . This action effectively ended the Revolutionary War and Washington was declared a national hero.

America’s First President

In 1783, with the signing of the Treaty of Paris between Great Britain and the U.S., Washington, believing he had done his duty, gave up his command of the army and returned to Mount Vernon, intent on resuming his life as a gentleman farmer and family man. However, in 1787, he was asked to attend the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and head the committee to draft the new constitution . His impressive leadership there convinced the delegates that he was by far the most qualified man to become the nation’s first president.

At first, Washington balked. He wanted to, at last, return to a quiet life at home and leave governing the new nation to others. But public opinion was so strong that eventually he gave in. The first presidential election was held on January 7, 1789, and Washington won handily. John Adams (1735-1826), who received the second-largest number of votes, became the nation’s first vice president. The 57-year-old Washington was inaugurated on April 30, 1789, in New York City. Because Washington, D.C. , America’s future capital city wasn’t yet built, he lived in New York and Philadelphia. While in office, he signed a bill establishing a future, permanent U.S. capital along the Potomac River—the city later named Washington, D.C., in his honor.

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George Washington’s Accomplishments

The United States was a small nation when Washington took office, consisting of 11 states and approximately 4 million people, and there was no precedent for how the new president should conduct domestic or foreign business. Mindful that his actions would likely determine how future presidents were expected to govern, Washington worked hard to set an example of fairness, prudence and integrity. In foreign matters, he supported cordial relations with other countries but also favored a position of neutrality in foreign conflicts. Domestically, he nominated the first chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court , John Jay (1745-1829), signed a bill establishing the first national bank, the Bank of the United States , and set up his own presidential cabinet . 

His two most prominent cabinet appointees were Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804), two men who disagreed strongly on the role of the federal government. Hamilton favored a strong central government and was part of the Federalist Party , while Jefferson favored stronger states’ rights as part of the Democratic-Republican Party, the forerunner to the Democratic Party . Washington believed that divergent views were critical for the health of the new government, but he was distressed at what he saw as an emerging partisanship.

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George Washington’s Final Years—And Sudden, Agonizing Death

The Founding Father left the presidency a healthy man, but then died from a sudden illness less than three years later.

George Washington’s presidency was marked by a series of firsts. He signed the first United States copyright law, protecting the copyrights of authors. He also signed the first Thanksgiving proclamation, making November 26 a national day of Thanksgiving for the end of the war for American independence and the successful ratification of the Constitution.

During Washington’s presidency, Congress passed the first federal revenue law, a tax on distilled spirits. In July 1794, farmers in Western Pennsylvania rebelled over the so-called “whiskey tax.” Washington called in over 12,000 militiamen to Pennsylvania to dissolve the Whiskey Rebellion in one of the first major tests of the authority of the national government.

Under Washington’s leadership, the states ratified the Bill of Rights , and five new states entered the union: North Carolina (1789), Rhode Island (1790), Vermont (1791), Kentucky (1792) and Tennessee (1796).

In his second term, Washington issued the proclamation of neutrality to avoid entering the 1793 war between Great Britain and France. But when French minister to the United States Edmond Charles Genet—known to history as “Citizen Genet”—toured the United States, he boldly flaunted the proclamation, attempting to set up American ports as French military bases and gain support for his cause in the Western United States. His meddling caused a stir between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans, widening the rift between parties and making consensus-building more difficult.

In 1795, Washington signed the “Treaty of Amity Commerce and Navigation, between His Britannic Majesty; and The United States of America,” or Jay’s Treaty , so-named for John Jay , who had negotiated it with the government of King George III . It helped the U.S. avoid war with Great Britain, but also rankled certain members of Congress back home and was fiercely opposed by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison . Internationally, it caused a stir among the French, who believed it violated previous treaties between the United States and France.

Washington’s administration signed two other influential international treaties. Pinckney’s Treaty of 1795, also known as the Treaty of San Lorenzo, established friendly relations between the United States and Spain, firming up borders between the U.S. and Spanish territories in North America and opening up the Mississippi to American traders. The Treaty of Tripoli, signed the following year, gave American ships access to Mediterranean shipping lanes in exchange for a yearly tribute to the Pasha of Tripoli.

George Washington’s Retirement to Mount Vernon and Death

In 1796, after two terms as president and declining to serve a third term, Washington finally retired. In Washington’s farewell address , he urged the new nation to maintain the highest standards domestically and to keep involvement with foreign powers to a minimum. The address is still read each February in the U.S. Senate to commemorate Washington’s birthday.

Washington returned to Mount Vernon and devoted his attentions to making the plantation as productive as it had been before he became president. More than four decades of public service had aged him, but he was still a commanding figure. In December 1799, he caught a cold after inspecting his properties in the rain. The cold developed into a throat infection and Washington died on the night of December 14, 1799, at the age of 67. He was entombed at Mount Vernon, which in 1960 was designated a national historic landmark.

Washington left one of the most enduring legacies of any American in history. Known as the “Father of His Country,” his face appears on the U.S. dollar bill and quarter, and dozens of U.S. schools, towns and counties, as well as the state of Washington and the nation’s capital city, are named for him.

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George Washington: Life in Brief

George Washington was born to Mary Ball and Augustine Washington on February 22, 1732. As the third son of a middling planter, George probably should have been relegated to a footnote in a history book. Instead, he became one of the greatest figures in American history.

A series of personal losses changed the course of George’s life. His father, Augustine, died when he was eleven years old, ending any hopes of higher education. Instead, Washington spent many of his formative years under the tutelage of Lawrence, his favorite older brother. He also learned the science of surveying and began a new career with the help of their neighbors, the wealthy and powerful Fairfax family. Lawrence’s death in 1752 again changed George’s plans. He leased Mount Vernon, a plantation in northern Virginia, from Lawrence’s widow and sought a military commission, just as Lawrence had done.

Washington served as the lieutenant colonel of the Virginia regiment and led several missions out west to the Ohio Valley. On his second mission west, he participated in the murder of French forces, including a reported ambassador. In retaliation, the French surrounded Washington’s forces at Fort Necessity and compelled an unequivocal surrender. Washington signed the articles of capitulation, not knowing that he was accepting full blame for an assassination. His mission marked the start of the Seven Years’ War.

Washington then joined General Edward Braddock’s official family as an aide-de-camp. In recognition of Washington’s extraordinary bravery during Braddock’s disastrous defeat at the Battle of the Monongahela in 1755, Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie appointed him as the commander of the Virginia Regiment. He served with distinction until the end of 1758.

In early 1759, George entered a new chapter in his life when he married Martha Custis, a wealthy widow, and won election to the Virginia House of Burgesses. George and Martha moved to Mount Vernon and embarked on an extensive expansion and renovation of the estate. Their life with her children from her previous marriage, John Parke Custis and Martha Parke Custis, was loving and warm.

Washington’s position in the House of Burgesses took on additional importance as relations between the colonies and Great Britain deteriorated after the end of the Seven Years’ War. The British government had incurred enormous debts fighting across the globe and faced high military costs defending the new territories in North America that it had received in the peace settlement. To defray these expenses, the British Parliament passed a series of new taxation measures on its colonies, which were still much lower than those paid by citizens in England. But many colonists protested that they had already contributed once to the war effort and should not be forced to pay again, especially since they had no input in the legislative process.

Washington supported the protest measures in the House of Burgesses, and in 1774, he accepted appointment as a Virginia delegate to the First Continental Congress, where he voted for non-importation measures, such as abstaining from purchasing British goods. The following year, he returned to the Second Continental Congress after British regulars and local militia forces clashed in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts. He approved Congress’s decision to create an army in June 1775 and was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army.

For the next eight years, Washington led the army, only leaving headquarters to respond to Congress’s summons. He lost more battles than he won and at times had to hold the army together with sheer will, but ultimately emerged victorious in 1783 when the Treaty of Paris ended the Revolutionary War.

Washington’s success as a commander derived from three factors. First, he never challenged civilian authority. The new nation deeply distrusted military power, and his intentional self-subordination kept him in command. Second, the soldiers and officers adored him. The soldiers’ devotion to their commander was so apparent that some congressmen rued that it was not the Continental Army, it was George Washington’s army. Finally, Washington understood that if the army survived, so too would the cause for independence. He did not have to beat the British Army, he just had to avoid complete destruction.

At the end of the war, Washington returned his commission to the Confederation Congress and resumed life as a private citizen in Virginia. In an age of dictators and despots, his voluntarily surrender of power rippled around the globe and solidified his legend. Unsurprisingly, when the state leaders began discussing government reform a few years later, they knew Washington’s participation was essential for success.

In 1786, the Virginia legislature nominated a slate of delegates to represent the state at the Constitutional Convention. Washington’s close friend, Governor Edmund Randolph, ensured that George’s name was included. In May 1787, Washington set out for Philadelphia, where he served as the president of the convention. Once the convention agreed to a draft constitution, he then worked behind the scenes to ensure ratification. Washington believed the new constitution would resolve many of the problems that had plagued the Confederation Congress, but he also knew that if the states ratified the constitution, he would once again be dragged back into public service.

On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth and requisite state to ratify the new Constitution of the United States, forcing each state to schedule elections for the new federal offices. Unsurprisingly, Washington was unanimously elected as the first president. He took the oath of office on April 30, 1789.

As the first president, Washington literally crafted the office from scratch, which was an accomplishment that cannot be overstated because every decision was an opportunity for failure. Instead, Washington set a model for restraint, prestige in office, and public service. As president, Washington also oversaw the establishment of the financial system, the restoration of the nation’s credit, the expansion of US territory (often at the expense of Native Americans), the negotiation of economic treaties with European empires, and the defense of executive authority over diplomatic and domestic affairs.

Washington set countless precedents, including the creation of the cabinet, executive privilege, state of the union addresses, and his retirement after two terms. On September 19, 1796, Washington published his Farewell Address announcing his retirement in a Philadelphia newspaper. He warned Americans to come together and reject partisan or foreign attempts to divide them, admonitions that retain their significance into the twenty-first century. He then willingly surrendered power once more.

When Washington left office, his contemporaries referred to him the father of the country. No other person could have held the Continental Army together for eight years, granted legitimacy to the Constitution Convention, or served as the first president. It is impossible to imagine the creation of the United States without him.

Yet, Washington’s life also embodies the complicated founding that shapes our society today. He owned hundreds of enslaved people and benefitted from their forced labor from the moment he was born to the day he died. His wealth, produced by slavery, made possible his decades of public service. Washington’s financial success, and that of the new nation, also depended on the violent seizure of extensive territory from Native American nations along the eastern seaboard to the Mississippi River. Washington’s life and service as the first president represents the irony contained in the nation’s founding. The United States was forged on the idea that “all men are created equal,” yet depended on the subjugation and exploitation of women and people of color.

Lindsay M. Chervinsky

Senior Fellow The Center for Presidential History Southern Methodist University

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Biography of George Washington

George Washington – first American president, commander of the Continental Army, president of the Constitutional Convention, and farmer. Through these roles, Washington exemplified character and leadership.

Childhood and Education

George Washington was born at his family's plantation on Popes Creek in Westmoreland County, Virginia, on February 22, 1732, to Augustine and Mary Ball Washington . George's father was a leading planter in the area and served as a justice of the county court.

Augustine Washington's first wife, Jane Butler, died in 1729, leaving him with two sons, Lawrence and Augustine, Jr., and a daughter, Jane. George was the eldest of Augustine and Mary's six children: George, Elizabeth , Samuel, John Augustine, Charles , and Mildred.

Around 1734, the family moved up the Potomac River to another Washington property, Little Hunting Creek Plantation (later renamed Mount Vernon). In 1738, they moved again to Ferry Farm , a plantation on the Rappahannock River near Fredericksburg, Virginia, where George spent much of his youth.

Little is known of George Washington's childhood, and it remains the most poorly understood part of his life. When he was eleven years old, his father Augustine died, leaving most of his property to George's adult half brothers. The income from what remained was just sufficient to maintain Mary Washington and her children. As the oldest of Mary's children, George undoubtedly helped his mother manage the Rappahannock River plantation where they lived. There he learned the importance of hard work and efficiency.

Washington's Education

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Washington never attended college or received a formal education. His two older half brothers, Lawrence and Augustine, attended Appleby Grammar School in England. However, after the death of their father, the family limited funds for education. Private tutors and possibly a local school in Fredericksburg provided George and his siblings with the only formal instruction he would receive.

In addition to reading, writing, and basic legal forms, George studied geometry and trigonometry—in preparation for his first career as a surveyor—and manners—which would shape his character and conduct for the rest of his life.

The Popes Creek birthsite. The home that Washington was born in has not survived.

Today, a replica of Washington's home at Ferry Farm sits on the structure's original location. Photo courtesy of The George Washington Foundation.

Lawrence Washington (Mount Vernon Ladies' Association)

The Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour

Before the age of sixteen, George Washington copied out the 110 rules covered in The Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour.  This exercise, now regarded as a formative influence in the development of his character, included guidelines for behavior and general courtesies.

Like most elite Americans, the Washingtons were deeply entangled in a global commercial system that revolved around slavery. The vast network of 18th-century transatlantic trade involved the flow of manufactured goods from Europe, enslaved people from Africa, and raw materials from the Americas. 

The economy and social structure of Washington’s native Virginia depended on the labor of enslaved Africans and their descendants to cultivate cash crops like tobacco. Slavery was an integral part of Washington’s life from an early age.

At age 11, he inherited 10 enslaved people from his father. He would go on to inherit, purchase, rent, and gain control of more than 500 enslaved people at Mount Vernon and his other properties by the end of his life.

When he married widow Martha Dandridge Custis in 1759, she brought 84 enslaved people to Mount Vernon as part of her “dower share” of her first husband’s estate. She retained life rights to these people but did not legally own them. By 1799, the number of “dower slaves” at Mount Vernon had grown to 153 through natural increase, as children inherited the status of their mother.

Washington’s views on slavery changed over time. Economic and moral concerns led him to question slavery after the Revolutionary War, though he never lobbied publicly for abolition. Unable to extricate himself from slavery during his lifetime, Washington chose to free the 123 enslaved people he owned outright in his will.

List of enslaved people at Mount Vernon, by George Washington, MVLA.

During George Washington’s early teenage years, he completed many school exercises in penmanship, comportment, and mathematics. Some exercises, such as the Art of Surveying and Measuring Land , provided instruction for practice surveys and included samples taken directly from William Leybourn's The Compleat Surveyor of 1657. The formal training Washington received in surveying was complemented by practical experience in the field.

In the mid-1740s, Washington surveyed five acres for A Plan of a Piece of Meadow called Hell Hole, Situate on the Potowmack near Little Hunting Creek. Along with many other plats, Washington drew A Plan of Major Law[rence] Washington's Turnip Field.

In 1748 Washington was invited to join a survey party organized by his neighbor and friend George William Fairfax of Belvoir. Fairfax assembled an experienced team to layout lots within a large tract along the western frontier of Virginia. Over their month-long expedition, Washington learned even more about surveying and gained important experience of living on the frontier.

Washington's career as a professional surveyor began in 1749. He received a commission as a surveyor for the newly formed Culpeper County, probably at the behest of William Fairfax who was then serving on the Governor's Council.

One of the most important tools of the trade was a surveyor's compass. When mounted on a staff, the compass enabled the user to establish a line from a known reference point to the point of interest and determine its bearing. MVLA [W-579/A-B]

French and Indian War

In 1753, the Governor of Virginia, Robert Dinwiddie, learned that French troops had moved south from Canada and were constructing forts in the region south of Lake Erie, an area claimed by the British (now in Western Pennsylvania). Both France and England recognized the commercial potential of the region. French trappers had been working in the area for some time. Dinwiddie was concerned that the French troops would also fortify the forks of the Ohio River -- the strategic point where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers join to form the Ohio River. This point, now Pittsburgh, was the eastern gateway to the Ohio River Valley .

Allegheny Expedition

In the fall of 1753, Dinwiddie sent 21-year-old Major Washington to deliver a message to the French, demanding they leave the area. Today, this journey is known as the Allegheny Expedition  and Washington was aided by  Christopher Gist , a frontier guide, and local Native Americans . The party finally reached the French post at Fort Le Boeuf on the evening of December 11, escorted by Seneca chief Tanacharison (Half-King), two Iroquois chiefs, and one from the Delaware Nation.

The return trip tested Washington's endurance. He hiked for days through snowy woods, fell off a raft into the ice-choked Allegheny River, nearly drowned, and was forced to spend a freezing night on an island without shelter. Washington's account of the arduous 900-mile journey was published by Governor Dinwiddie in both Williamsburg and London, establishing an international reputation for George Washington by the time he was 22.

Jumonville Glen Skirmish

A few months later Dinwiddie dispatched Washington, now a lieutenant colonel, and some 150 men to assert Virginia's claims on the land. As they advanced, Washington's men skirmished with French soldiers, killing 10 men, including the French commander, Joseph Coulon de Villiers, Sieur de Jumonville. Washington then retreated to an ill-placed and makeshift palisade he called Fort Necessity . He was forced to surrender when the French surrounded the fort. The campaign ended in humiliation for Washington and ignited the French and Indian War .

General Braddock

Although he resigned his commission after the surrender, Washington returned to the frontier in 1755 as a volunteer aide to General Edward Braddock. Braddock had been sent by the King of England to drive the French from the Ohio Country. Braddock's army was routed near the Monongahela River  and fled in confusion to Virginia. During the battle, while attempting to rally the British soldiers, Washington had two horses shot out from under him and four bullet holes shot through his coat. Although he behaved with conspicuous bravery, Washington could do little except lead the broken survivors to safety. In recognition of his conduct, Washington was given command of Virginia's entire military force. With a few hundred men he was ordered to protect a frontier some 350 miles long. Although this was a frustrating assignment, it provided him with experience in commanding troops through an arduous campaign. In 1758 the British finally took the forks of the Ohio. Peace returned to Virginia, and Washington resigned his commission to return to Mount Vernon, his duty faithfully performed.

The Journal of Maj. George Washington

Fort Necessity

U1897.1.1 George Washington as First Colonel in the Virginia Regiment, Charles Willson Peale, oil on canvas, 1772. Gift of George Washington Custis Lee, University Collections of Art and History, Washington & Lee University, Lexington, Virginia

House of Burgesses

The first time George Washington ran for public office, he lost. However, he won his second race and served in the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1758 until 1776. 

Marriage and Family

Martha Washington served as the nation's first first lady and spent about half of the Revolutionary War at the front. She helped manage and run her husbands' estates. She raised her children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews; and for almost 40 years she was George Washington's "worthy partner". 

On January 6, 1759, George Washington and Martha Dandridge Custis married , she was 27 years old and from the Tidewater area of Virginia. Martha was a widow and after the death of her first husband,  Daniel Parke Custis , she assumed control of considerable property (in the form of land and enslaved people ). She also had two young children, John known as “Jacky” and Martha called “Patsy” .

In addition to seeing to her children's education, Martha oversaw the domestic staff of hired and enslaved butlers, housekeepers, maids, cooks, waiters, laundresses, spinners, seamstresses, and gardeners. These happy years at Mount Vernon were tragically interrupted, in 1773, when 17-year-old Patsy had a seizure and died.

During the Revolutionary War, George Washington was always leading the army, so Martha Washington along with the helped of her husband’s cousin managed Mount Vernon. She also spent almost half of the war in camp ; entertaining visiting colonial and international officials and prominent civilians. She helped copy correspondences, knitted for the soldiers, and made hospital visits. As the war came to an end, much of the happiness was drowned out for Martha Washington by the loss of her son, John, who died of camp fever at Yorktown.

First Family

After the war, the Washingtons returned to Mount Vernon to rebuild their plantation and raise John’s two youngest children, Eleanor and George . In 1789, the Washingtons, who were in their late 50s, became the first first family . Martha Washington oversaw much of the official entertaining, hosting a weekly dinner on Thursdays and a reception on Fridays, in addition to many other frequent visitors.

Eight years later, the Washingtons retired to their beloved Mount Vernon. Over the next two years, they improved their home and welcomed many friends. Then on December 14, 1799, George Washington died. Martha Washington was devastated and told several people she was ready to join him in death. After an illness of several weeks, Martha Washington died on May 22, 1802. She was 70 years old. In newspapers throughout the country, Martha Washington was eulogized as "the worthy partner of the worthiest of men."

Martha Dandridge Custis, by Adrian Lamb, 1981, after John Wollaston (Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association)

The Life of Martha Washington

This is the story of Martha Washington, the worthiest of partners to the worthiest of men.

Entrepreneur

George Washington spent the years between 1759 and 1775 overseeing the farms at Mount Vernon. Washington worked constantly to improve and expand the mansion house and its surrounding plantation. He established himself as an innovative farmer, who switched from tobacco to wheat as his main cash crop in the 1760's. In an effort to improve his farming operation , he diligently experimented with new crops, fertilizers, crop rotation, tools, and livestock breeding. He also expanded the work of the plantation to include flour milling  and commercial fishing in an effort to make Mount Vernon a more profitable estate.

Over the years, Washington had his house enlarged. First the roof was raised to create a third floor. Later a wing was added to each end, had a piazza built overlooking the Potomac River, and his vision was crowned with a cupola. By the time of his death in 1799, he had expanded the plantation from 2,000 to 8,000 acres consisting of five farms, with more than 3,000 acres under cultivation. Shortly after taking up wheat as his main cash crop, Washington built a large gristmill outfitted with two pairs of millstones. One pair of stones ground corn into meal for use at Mount Vernon and the other ground wheat into superfine flour for export to foreign ports. Washington also began making whiskey on the advice of his farm manager, James Anderson, a trained distiller from Scotland. He soon built one of the largest distilleries in America. At its peak, Washington’s distillery produced over 11,000 gallons of rye whiskey, becoming one of his most successful enterprises.

Even as President, Washington’s thoughts often turned to Mount Vernon. For example, while in office, he designed a 16-sided barn  to thresh wheat in a more efficient and sanitary way. As horses circled the second floor, they treaded on the wheat that had been spread there, breaking the grain from the chaff. The wheat would fall through gaps in the floorboards to the first floor, where it was winnowed. After winnowing, the grain was taken to the gristmill and ground into flour. From the President’s House in Philadelphia, Washington followed the barn’s construction every step of the way. He even correctly calculated the number of bricks needed for the first floor – which turned out to be exactly 30,820!

View of Washington’s reconstructed Gristmill at Mount Vernon (Rob Shenk)

Washington's Distillery at Mount Vernon

The 16-Sided Barn on the Pioneer Farm at Mount Vernon

The Working Gristmill at Mount Vernon

Take a look into the operation of the George Washington's automated gristmill.

In June 1775, Congress commissioned George Washington to take command of the Continental Army besieging the British in Boston . He wrote home to Martha that he expected to return safely to her in the fall. The command kept him away from Mount Vernon for more than 8 years (with only one very brief visit while en route to Yorktown).

It was a command for which his military background, although greater than that of any of the other available candidates, hardly prepared him. His knowledge lay in frontier warfare, involving relatively small numbers of soldiers. He had no practical experience maneuvering large formations, handling cavalry or artillery, or maintaining supply lines adequate to support thousands of men in the field. He learned on the job; and although his army reeled from one misfortune to another, he had the courage, determination, and mental agility to keep the American cause one step ahead of complete disintegration until he figured out how to win the unprecedented revolutionary struggle he was leading.

His task was not overwhelming at first. The British position in Boston was untenable, and in March 1776 they withdrew from the city. But it was only a temporary respite. In June a new British army, under the command of Sir William Howe, arrived in the colonies with orders to take New York City. Howe commanded the largest expeditionary force Britain had ever sent overseas.

Defending New York was almost impossible. An island city, New York is surrounded by a maze of waterways that gave a substantial advantage to an attacker with naval superiority. Howe's army was larger, better equipped, and far better trained than Washington's. They defeated Washington's army at Long Island  in August and routed the Americans a few weeks later at Kip's Bay , resulting in the loss of the city. Forced to retreat northward, Washington was defeated again at White Plains. The American defense of New York City came to a humiliating conclusion on November 16, 1776, with the surrender of Fort Washington and some 2,800 men. Washington ordered his army to retreat across New Jersey. The remains of his forces, mud-soaked and exhausted, crossed the Delaware River into Pennsylvania on December 7.

The British had good reason to believe that the American rebellion would be over in a few months and that Congress would seek peace rather than face complete subjugation of the colonies. The enlistments of most of Washington's army were due to expire at the end of December. However, instead of crushing the remains of Washington's army, Howe went into winter quarters, with advanced garrisons at Trenton and Princeton, leaving Washington open to execute one of the most daring military operations in American history. On Christmas night Washington's troops crossed the Delaware River  and attacked the unsuspecting garrison at Trenton , forcing it to surrender. A few days later Washington again crossed the Delaware, outmaneuvered the force sent to crush him, and fell on the enemy at Princeton, inflicting a humiliating loss on the British.

For much of the remainder of the war, Washington's most important strategic task was to keep the British bottled up in New York. Although he never gave up hope of retaking the city, he was unwilling to risk his army without a fair prospect of success. An alliance with France and the arrival of a French army under the Comte de Rochambeau in July 1780 renewed Washington's hopes to recapture New York; however, together Washington and Rochambeau commanded about 9,000 men -- some 5,000 fewer than Clinton. In the end, therefore, the allied generals concluded, that an attack on New York could not succeed.

Instead, they decided to strike at the British army under Cornwallis, which was camped at Yorktown, Virginia. Washington's planning for the Battle of Yorktown  was as bold as it had been for Trenton and Princeton but on a much larger scale. Depending on Clinton's inactivity, Washington marched south to lay siege on Cornwallis. On October 19, 1781, he accepted the surrender of Cornwallis's army. Although two more years passed before a peace treaty was completed, the victory at Yorktown effectively brought the Revolutionary War to an end.

To the world's amazement, Washington had prevailed over the more numerous, better supplied, and fully-trained British army, mainly because he was more flexible than his opponents. He learned that it was more important to keep his army intact and to win an occasional victory to rally public support than it was to hold American cities or defeat the British army in an open field. Over the last 200 years, revolutionary leaders in every part of the world have employed this insight, but never with a result as startling as Washington's victory over the British.

On December 23, 1783, Washington presented himself before Congress in Annapolis, Maryland, and resigned his commission. Like Cincinnatus, the hero of Classical antiquity whose conduct he most admired, Washington had the wisdom to give up power when he could have been crowned a king. He left Annapolis and went home to Mount Vernon with the fixed intention of never again serving in public life. This one act, without precedent in modern history, made him an international hero.

George Washington at the Battle of Trenton

George Washington at Princeton by Charles Willson Peale, 1779 (United States Senate)

The March to Valley Forge by William Trego, 1883, (Museum of the American Revolution)

Washington surrendering his military commission to Congress (United States Senate)

A More Perfect Union: George Washington and the Creation of the U.S. Constitution

Most popular revolutions throughout history have descended into bloody chaos or fallen under the sway of dictators. So how did the United States, born of its own 8-year revolution, ultimately avoid these common pitfalls?

Constitutional Convention

Although Washington longed for a peaceful life at Mount Vernon, the affairs of the nation continued to command his attention. He watched with mounting dismay as the weak union created by the Articles of Confederation gradually disintegrated, unable to collect revenue or pay its debts. He was appalled by the excesses of the state legislatures and frustrated by the diplomatic, financial, and military impotence of the Confederation Congress. By 1785 Washington had concluded that reform was essential. What was needed, he wrote to  James Madison , was an energetic Constitution.

In 1787, Washington ended his self-imposed retirement and traveled to Philadelphia to attend a convention assembled to recommend changes to the Articles of Confederation. He was unanimously chosen to preside over the  Constitutional Convention , a job that took four months. He spoke very little in the convention, but few delegates were more determined to devise a government endowed with real energy and authority. My wish, he wrote, is that the convention may adopt no temporizing expedients but probe the defects of the Constitution to the bottom and provide a radical cure.

After the convention adjourned, Washington's reputation and support were essential to overcome opposition to the ratification of the proposed Constitution. He worked for months to rally support for the new instrument of government. It was a difficult struggle. Even in Washington's native Virginia, the Constitution was ratified by a majority of only one vote.

Once the Constitution was approved, Washington hoped to retire again to private life. But when the first presidential election was held, he received a vote from every elector. He remains the only President in American history to be elected by the unanimous voice of the people.

Washington's World Interactive Map

George Washington traveled far and wide during his lifetime.  Our Washington's World Interactive Map will help you discover all the journeys and places that Washington visited.

President of the United States

Washington served two terms as President. His first term (1789-1793) was occupied primarily with organizing the executive branch of the new government and establishing administrative procedures that would make it possible for the government to operate with the energy and efficiency he believed were essential to the republic's future. An astute judge of talent, he surrounded himself with the most able men in the new nation. He appointed his former aide-decamp,  Alexander Hamilton , as Secretary of the Treasury;  Thomas Jefferson  as Secretary of State; and his former artillery chief, Henry Knox, as Secretary of War. James Madison was one of his principal advisors.

In his  First Inaugural Address , Washington confessed that he was unpracticed in the duties of civil administration; however, he was one of the most able administrators ever to serve as President. He administered the government with fairness and integrity, assuring Americans that the President could exercise extensive executive authority without corruption. Further, he executed the laws with restraint, establishing precedents for broad-ranging presidential authority. His integrity was most pure, Thomas Jefferson wrote, his justice the most inflexible I have ever known, no motive of interest or consanguinity, friendship, or hatred, being able to bias his decision. Washington set a standard for presidential integrity rarely met by his successors, although he established an ideal by which they all are judged.

During Washington's first term the Federal Government adopted a series of measures proposed by Alexander Hamilton to resolve the escalating debt crisis and established the nation's finances on a sound basis, concluded peace treaties with the southeastern Indian tribes, and designated a site on the Potomac River for the permanent capital of the United States. But as Washington's first term ended, a bloody Indian war continued on the northwestern frontier. The warring tribes were encouraged by the British, who retained military posts in the northwest. Further, the Spanish denied Americans use of the Mississippi River. These problems limited the westward expansion to which Washington was committed.

Growing partisanship within the government also concerned Washington. Many men in the new government -- including Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and other leaders of the emerging Republican party -- were opposed to Hamilton's financial program. Washington despised political partisanship but could do little to slow the development of political parties.

During his first term Washington toured the northern and southern states and found that the new government enjoyed the general support of the American people. Convinced that the government could get along without him, he planned to step down at the end of his first term. But his cabinet members convinced him that he alone could command the respect of members of both burgeoning political parties. Thomas Jefferson visited Washington at Mount Vernon to urge him to accept a second term. Although longing to return home permanently, Washington reluctantly agreed.

Washington's second term (1793-1797) was dominated by foreign affairs  and marred by a deepening partisanship in his own administration. Washington assumed the Presidency on the eve of the French Revolution, a time of great international crisis. The outbreak of a general European war in 1793 forced the crisis to the center of American politics. Washington believed the national interest of the United States dictated neutrality. War would be disastrous for commerce and shatter the nation's finances. The country's future depended on the increase in wealth and opportunity that would come from commerce and westward expansion. One of Washington's most important accomplishments was keeping the United States out of the war, giving the new nation an opportunity to grow in strength while establishing the principle of neutrality that shaped American foreign policy for more than a century. Although Washington's department heads agreed that the United States should remain neutral, disagreements over foreign policy aggravated partisan tensions among them. The disagreements were part of the deepening division between Federalists and Republicans. Opposition to federal policies developed into resistance to the law in 1794  as distillers in Western Pennsylvania rioted and refused to pay taxes. Washington directed the army to restore order, a step applauded by Federalists and condemned by Republicans.

Despite Washington's disappointment with the rise of partisanship, the last years of his Presidency were distinguished by important achievements. The long Indian war on the northwest frontier was won, Britain surrendered its forts in the northwest, and Spain opened the Mississippi to American commerce. These achievements opened the West to settlement. Washington’s Farewell Address  helped to summarize many of Washington’s strongest held beliefs about what it would take to sustain and grow the young nation that he helped found.

Washington reviewing troops sent to put down the Whiskey Rebellion in Western Pennsylvania (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Supreme Court Justice Kennedy on Washington's Presidency

Justice Kennedy talks about the role Washington played in establishing the office of the president.

Finally retired from public service, George and Martha Washington returned to their beloved Mount Vernon where they would spend their final years.

On Thursday, December 12, 1799, George Washington was out on horseback supervising farming activities from late morning until three in the afternoon. The weather shifted from light snow to hail and then to rain. Upon Washington's return it was suggested that he change out of his wet riding clothes before dinner. Known for his punctuality, Washington chose to remain in his damp attire.

Washington recognized the onset of a sore throat and became increasingly hoarse. After retiring for the night Washington awoke in terrible discomfort at around two in the morning. Martha was concerned about his state and wanted to send for help. Tobias Lear, Washington’s secretary, sent for George Rawlins, an overseer at Mount Vernon, who at the request of George Washington bled him. Lear also sent to  Alexandria  for  Dr. James Craik , the family doctor and Washington's trusted friend and physician for forty years. As Washington’s condition worsened, two additional doctors were sent for and arrived at Washington’s bedside.

Despite receiving a regimen of blood-lettings, induced vomiting, an enema, and potions of vinegar and sage tea, Washington’s condition worsened. Washington called for his two wills and directed that the unused one should be burned.

The Death of George Washington

Between ten and eleven at night on December 14, 1799, George Washington passed away. He was surrounded by people who were close to him including his wife who sat at the foot of the bed, his friends Dr. Craik and Tobias Lear, enslaved housemaids Caroline Branham , Molly, and  Charlotte , and his valet Christopher Sheels who stood in the room throughout the day.

According to his wishes, Washington was not buried for three days. During that time his body lay in a mahogany casket in the New Room. On December 18, 1799 a solemn funeral was held at Mount Vernon and he was laid to rest in the family tomb .

Washington's Will

In his will, written several months before his death in December 1799, George Washington left directions for the emancipation of all the slaves that he owned, after the death of Martha Washington.

George Washington by Charles Willson Peale (Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association)

George Washington's Sarcophagus within the New Tomb at Mount Vernon

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George Washington

The 1st President of the United States

The biography for President Washington and past presidents is courtesy of the White House Historical Association.

On April 30, 1789, George Washington, standing on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York, took his oath of office as the first President of the United States. “As the first of every thing, in our situation will serve to establish a Precedent,” he wrote James Madison, “it is devoutly wished on my part, that these precedents may be fixed on true principles.”

Born in 1732 into a Virginia planter family, he learned the morals, manners, and body of knowledge requisite for an 18th century Virginia gentleman.

He pursued two intertwined interests: military arts and western expansion. At 16 he helped survey Shenandoah lands for Thomas, Lord Fairfax. Commissioned a lieutenant colonel in 1754, he fought the first skirmishes of what grew into the French and Indian War. The next year, as an aide to Gen. Edward Braddock, he escaped injury although four bullets ripped his coat and two horses were shot from under him.

From 1759 to the outbreak of the American Revolution, Washington managed his lands around Mount Vernon and served in the Virginia House of Burgesses. Married to a widow, Martha Dandridge Custis, he devoted himself to a busy and happy life. But like his fellow planters, Washington felt himself exploited by British merchants and hampered by British regulations. As the quarrel with the mother country grew acute, he moderately but firmly voiced his resistance to the restrictions.

When the Second Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia in May 1775, Washington, one of the Virginia delegates, was elected Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. On July 3, 1775, at Cambridge, Massachusetts, he took command of his ill-trained troops and embarked upon a war that was to last six grueling years.

He realized early that the best strategy was to harass the British. He reported to Congress, “we should on all Occasions avoid a general Action, or put anything to the Risque, unless compelled by a necessity, into which we ought never to be drawn.” Ensuing battles saw him fall back slowly, then strike unexpectedly. Finally in 1781 with the aid of French allies–he forced the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.

Washington longed to retire to his fields at Mount Vernon. But he soon realized that the Nation under its Articles of Confederation was not functioning well, so he became a prime mover in the steps leading to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. When the new Constitution was ratified, the Electoral College unanimously elected Washington President.

He did not infringe upon the policy making powers that he felt the Constitution gave Congress. But the determination of foreign policy became preponderantly a Presidential concern. When the French Revolution led to a major war between France and England, Washington refused to accept entirely the recommendations of either his Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, who was pro-French, or his Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who was pro-British. Rather, he insisted upon a neutral course until the United States could grow stronger.

To his disappointment, two parties were developing by the end of his first term. Wearied of politics, feeling old, he retired at the end of his second. In his Farewell Address, he urged his countrymen to forswear excessive party spirit and geographical distinctions. In foreign affairs, he warned against long-term alliances.

Washington enjoyed less than three years of retirement at Mount Vernon, for he died of a throat infection December 14, 1799. For months the Nation mourned him.

Learn more about George Washington’s spouse, Martha Dandridge Custis Washington.

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George Washington

On February 22, 1732, George was born to Augustine and Mary Ball Washington. He spent most of his childhood at Ferry Farm on the Rappahannock River. All of the homes and plantations where Washington lived were maintained by enslaved labor. When George was eleven, his father died and he became a slave owner. As a result, George did not receive a formal education like his older half-brothers. Instead, he helped his mother on the farm and attended a local school in Fredericksburg. For the rest of his life, Washington supplemented his education with reading and self-guided study. At seventeen-years old, George used his family connections to secure appointment as the surveyor for Culpeper County. This position offered adventure, a steady income, and the opportunity to view and purchase unclaimed land. His surveying experience also instilled in George a firm conviction in the importance of westward expansion to the future of the colonies, and later the United States. In 1753, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia Robert Dinwiddie sent twenty-one-year-old Washington, now a Major in the Virginia Regiment, to deliver a message to the French, demanding they abandon the Ohio Valley. Washington later published his account of the trip, giving him an international reputation. A few months later, Washington again marched out west with 150 men to enforce Virginia’s claim. The mission ended in a humiliating surrender at Fort Necessity, followed by Washington’s resignation of his commission. Two years later, Washington again witnessed fighting in the Ohio Country, this time as an aide-de-camp in British General Edward Braddock’s official family. Braddock’s army suffered an overwhelming defeat near the Monongahela River, but Washington was commended for rallying the survivors in the face of chaos. On January 6, 1758, George married Martha Dandridge Custis, a beautiful and charming widow from Virginia. George acquired significant wealth and a partner for the next four decades through the marriage. Between 1759 and 1775, George served many terms in the Virginia House of Burgesses and devoted himself to improving farming practices at his plantation through the labor of the growing enslaved community. After supporting the colonies’ protests against British tax measures in the 1770s, Washington was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army by Congress in June 1775. For the next eight years, Washington remained with the army, only leaving camp to attend summons by Congress. Under Washington’s command, the Continental Army lost more battles than it won, constantly struggling to obtain the necessary food, supplies, and ammunition. But the army persisted—and the colonies’ fight for independence could not be extinguished. Washington also served a critical role ensuring that military power remained subordinate to civilian government. He never used his authority to challenge Congress and ended potential military coups within the army’s ranks. When the Treaty of Paris ended the Revolutionary War, Washington resigned his commission to Congress. Washington’s relinquishing of power was nearly unprecedented and made him an international hero. In 1787, Washington was again called to serve when Virginia appointed him as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. The delegates crafted a Constitution that created a government with significantly more authority and centralized power. They hoped the new government would address the economic, diplomatic, and domestic calamities that had besieged the nation for over a decade under the Articles of Confederation. Unsurprisingly, the delegates trusted Washington with the presidency. To this day, he is the only president to be unanimously elected. On April 16, 1789, George Washington left his home at Mount Vernon to travel to New York City to be inaugurated as the first President of the United States. During Washington’s presidency, at least ten enslaved people worked at the president’s houses in New York City and Philadelphia: Ona, Hercules, Moll, Giles, Austin, Richmond, Paris, Joe, Christopher Sheels, and William Lee. They tended the horses and carriages in the stables, escorted Washington and his family when they left the house, cooked in the kitchen, did laundry, cleaned the home, cared for the Washingtons’ grandchildren, helped the Washingtons dress in the morning, greeted guests, and more. Click here to learn more about the enslaved household of President George Washington. During Washington’s presidency, he established countless precedents that guided his successors, including creating the president’s cabinet, asserting executive privilege, and using the veto for the first time. He also expanded executive authority over diplomatic and domestic issues, crafting foreign policy during the Neutrality Crisis in 1793 and subduing the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. Perhaps most importantly, Washington again relinquished his power when he retired after two terms in office. This precedent was reinforced by Thomas Jefferson and followed by every successive president until Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1951, the states ratified the 22 nd Amendment, which limits presidents to two terms in office. After retiring from public office, Washington returned to Mount Vernon for a few short years. On December 14, 1799, Washington died of a throat infection. His will included a provision to immediately free William Lee, his enslaved valet who served with him during the American Revolution. He also stipulated that the other 122 enslaved people owned by him receive their freedom upon Martha’s passing. While Washington was a slave owner for 56 years, he was the only Founding Father president to free all of the enslaved people he held in bondage.

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George Washington (February 22, 1732–December 14, 1799) was America's first president. He served as commander-in-chief of the Colonial Army during the American Revolution , leading the Patriot forces to victory over the British. In 1787 he presided at the  Constitutional Convention , which determined the structure of the new government of the United States, and in 1789 he was elected its president.

Fast Facts: George Washington

• Known For : Revolutionary War hero and America's first president
• Also Known As : The Father of His Country
• Born : February 22, 1732 in Westmoreland County, Virginia
• Parents : Augustine Washington, Mary Ball
• Died : December 14, 1799 in Mount Vernon, Virginia
• Spouse : Martha Dandridge Custis
• Notable Quote : "To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace."

George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, in Westmoreland County, Virginia to Augustine Washington and Mary Ball. The couple had six children—George was the oldest—to go with three from Augustine's first marriage. During George's youth his father, a prosperous planter who owned more than 10,000 acres of land, moved the family among three properties he owned in Virginia. He died when George was 11. His half-brother Lawrence stepped in as a father figure for George and the other children.

Mary Washington was a protective and demanding mother, keeping George from joining the British Navy as Lawrence had wanted. Lawrence owned the Little Hunting Creek plantation—later renamed Mount Vernon—and George lived with him from the age of 16. He was schooled entirely in Colonial Virginia, mostly at home, and didn't go to college. He was good at math, which suited his chosen profession of surveying, and he also studied geography, Latin, and English classics. He learned what he really needed from backwoodsmen and the plantation foreman.

In 1748 when he was 16, Washington traveled with a surveying party plotting land in Virginia’s western territory. The following year, aided by Lord Fairfax—a relative of Lawrence's wife—Washington was appointed official surveyor of Culpeper County, Virginia. Lawrence died of tuberculosis in 1752, leaving Washington with Mount Vernon, one of Virginia's most prominent estates, among other family properties.

Early Career

The same year his half-brother died, Washington joined the Virginia militia. He showed signs of being a natural leader, and Virginia Lt. Gov. Robert Dinwiddie appointed Washington adjutant and made him a major.

On Oct. 31, 1753, Dinwiddie sent Washington to Fort LeBoeuf, later the site of Waterford, Pennsylvania, to warn the French to leave land claimed by Britain. When the French refused, Washington had to retreat hastily. Dinwiddie sent him back with troops and Washington's small force attacked a French post, killing 10 and taking the rest prisoner. The battle marked the start of the French and Indian War, part of the worldwide conflict known as the Seven Years War between Britain and France.

Washington was given the honorary rank of colonel and fought a number of other battles, winning some and losing others, until he was made commander of all Virginia troops. He was only 23. Later, he was sent home briefly with dysentery and finally, after being turned down for a commission with the British Army, he retired from his Virginia command and returned to Mount Vernon. He was frustrated by poor support from the Colonial legislature, poorly trained recruits, and slow decision-making by his superiors.

On January 6, 1759, a month after he had left the army, Washington married Martha Dandridge Custis, a widow with two children. They had no children together. With the land he had inherited, property his wife brought with her to the marriage, and land granted him for his military service, he was one of the wealthiest landowners in Virginia. After his retirement he managed his property, often pitching in alongside the workers. He also entered politics and was elected to Virginia's House of Burgesses in 1758.

Revolutionary Fever

Washington opposed British actions against the Colonies such as the British Proclamation Act of 1763 and the Stamp Act of 1765, but he continued to resist moves to declare independence from Britain. In 1769, Washington introduced a resolution to the House of Burgesses calling for Virginia to boycott British goods until the Acts were repealed. He began to take a leading role in Colonial resistance against the British following of the Townshend Acts in 1767.

in 1774, Washington chaired a meeting that called for convening a Continental Congress, to which he became a delegate, and for using armed resistance as a last resort. After the battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, the political dispute became an armed conflict.

Commander-in-Chief

On June 15, Washington was named commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. On paper, Washington and his army were no match for the mighty British forces. But although Washington had little experience in high-level military command, he had prestige, charisma, courage, intelligence, and some battlefield experience. He also represented Virginia, the largest British colony. He led his forces to retake Boston and win huge victories at Trenton and Princeton, but he suffered major defeats, including the loss of New York City.

After the harrowing winter at Valley Forge in 1777, the French recognized American Independence, contributing a large French Army and a navy fleet. More American victories followed, leading to the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781. Washington formally said farewell to his troops and on December 23, 1783, he resigned his commission as commander-in-chief, returning to Mount Vernon.

New Constitution

After four years of living the life of a plantation owner, Washington and other leaders concluded that the Articles of Confederation that had governed the young country left too much power to the states and failed to unify the nation. In 1786, Congress approved the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to amend the Articles of Confederation. Washington was unanimously chosen as convention president.

He and other leaders, such as  James Madison  and  Alexander Hamilton , concluded that instead of amendments, a new constitution was needed. Though many leading American figures, such as  Patrick Henry  and  Sam Adams , opposed the proposed constitution, calling it a power grab, the document was approved.

Washington was elected unanimously by the Electoral College in 1789 as the nation's first president. ​Runner-up John Adams became vice president. In 1792 another unanimous vote by the Electoral College gave Washington a second term. In 1794, he stopped the first major challenge to federal authority, the Whiskey Rebellion, in which Pennsylvania farmers refused to pay federal tax on distilled spirits, by sending in troops to ensure compliance.

Washington did not run for a third term and retired to Mount Vernon. He was again asked to be the American commander if the U.S. went to war with France over the XYZ affair , but fighting never broke out. He died on December 14, 1799, possibly from a streptococcal infection of his throat made worse when he was bled four times.

Washington's impact on American history was massive. He led the Continental Army to victory over the British. He served as the nation's first president. He believed in a strong federal government, which was accomplished through the Constitutional Convention that he led. He promoted and worked on the principle of merit. He cautioned against foreign entanglements, a warning that was heeded by future presidents. He declined a third term, setting a precedent for a two-term limit that was codified in the 22nd Amendment.

In foreign affairs, Washington supported neutrality, declaring in the Proclamation of Neutrality in 1793 that the U.S. would be impartial toward belligerent powers in a war. He reiterated his opposition to foreign entanglements in his farewell address in 1796.

George Washington is considered one of the most important and influential U.S. presidents whose legacy has survived for centuries.

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George Washington

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George Washington (1732-1799) was an American military officer and statesman who led the Continental Army to victory during the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) and served as the first president of the United States (1789-1797). Often regarded as the 'Father of His Country', Washington remains one of the most revered and iconic figures in US history.

George Washington was born at 10 am on 22 February 1732 at Pope's Creek plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia. He was the first of six children born to Augustine Washington, a wealthy Virginian landowner, and his second wife Mary Ball Washington; George also had four older half-siblings from his father's first marriage. Little is known about George's childhood. His early years were mostly spent on the family property of Ferry Farm on the Rappahannock River, and he likely attended school in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he excelled in the subjects of geometry, trigonometry, and mapmaking. When his father suddenly died in 1743, 11-year-old George inherited Ferry Farm as well as ten enslaved people. Too young to fend for himself, he went to live with his eldest half-brother, Lawrence Washington (b.1718), at Mount Vernon. George idolized Lawrence, who he came to regard as both a father figure and a best friend.

George's aptitude for mathematics led him to consider a career as a land surveyor, a respectable path to wealth and social advancement. In 1748, at the age of 16, he embarked on his first expedition into the Shenandoah Valley to survey the property of his influential neighbor, Thomas Fairfax. The next year, he earned his surveyor's license and, through Fairfax's patronage, was appointed surveyor for Culpeper County. Over the next three years, Washington completed 200 surveying expeditions and measured a total of 60,000 acres along Virginia's western frontier. But just as George's career was taking off, Lawrence came down with tuberculosis. In November 1751, he went to the Caribbean island of Barbados in the hopes that the tropical air would improve his condition. George accompanied him, and contracted a painful case of smallpox during his brief stay on the island. George soon recovered but Lawrence was not so lucky, as he died shortly after returning to Virginia in 1752. After his brother's death , George started leasing Mount Vernon from Lawrence's widow and became the legal owner of the property after her own death in 1761.

In 1753, George Washington reached the age of maturity, and was eager to find a way to make a name for himself. He would soon have an opportunity. The French had begun to construct forts on the forks of the Ohio River, fertile territory that had been claimed by Virginia. In November, Washington was sent as an envoy to demand that the French vacate the Ohio Country at once. On his journey into the west, he was joined by Christopher Gist, an experienced frontiersman and guide, and Tanacharison, a Mingo chieftain called the 'Half-King' by Virginians. It was Tanacharison who gave Washington the Seneca name of ' Conotocaurius ' or 'Devourer of Villages', in reference to Washington's great-grandfather, who had helped expel Native Americans from their lands in Virginia. The small party reached the French Fort LeBoeuf during a snowstorm; although they were received cordially by the fort's commander, Washington's demands were firmly rebuffed. Washington then embarked on his trek back to Virginia which included several perilous episodes. While crossing the icy Alleghany River in a raft, Washington fell overboard, and likely would have drowned had Gist not pulled him from the water.

French and Indian War

In April 1754, Washington was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel in the newly formed Virginia Regiment and was sent back to the Ohio Country, this time with a company of 159 men, to again demand that the French leave. He set up camp in a grassy field called Great Meadows, where he was informed by one of Tanacharison's scouts that a party of French soldiers was encamped nearby. Early in the morning of 28 May 1754, Washington and Tanacharison ambushed the French camp; in the short skirmish that followed, several French troops were killed, including their commander, Joseph Coulon de Jumonville. Washington immediately withdrew back to Great Meadows, where his men hastily constructed Fort Necessity. But when the French attacked on 3 July, the fort was unable to hold out; after eight hours of fighting, Washington agreed to surrender on the condition that his surviving men could return to Virginia. The incident greatly heightened tensions between Britain and France, helping to spark a global conflict, the Seven Years' War (1756-1763).

The next year, Brigadier General Edward Braddock landed in Virginia with two regiments of British regulars, tasked with capturing Fort Duquesne and forcing the French from the Ohio Country once and for all. When Braddock's Expedition set out in May 1755, Washington accompanied it as one of Braddock's aides-de-camp , but was forced to remain behind for much of the campaign on account of his dysentery. He was, however, with the army when it was ambushed by the French and their Indigenous allies on 9 July at the Battle of the Monongahela. Despite having two horses killed from under him, Washington managed to rally the panicked British army and help lead the retreat. Over 800 British and provincial soldiers had become casualties in the ambush including Braddock, who was mortally wounded. Over the next two years, Washington, now a full colonel in command of the Virginia Regiment, oversaw the defense of the colony's western frontier. In 1758, he joined the Forbes Expedition which succeeded in capturing Fort Duquesne without firing a shot. This campaign helped turn the tide of the French and Indian War, which ultimately resulted in a British victory in 1763.

Marriage & Plantation Life

Frustrated that his exploits had not won him a commission in the regular British army, Washington resigned from the Virginia Regiment and returned to Mount Vernon. He won election to the House of Burgesses in 1758 and, the following January, married the wealthy widow Martha Dandridge Custis. The marriage gave Washington control over the 18,000-acre Custis estate as well as 84 enslaved people, making him one of the most influential landowners in Virginia. He and Martha never had any children together; indeed, some scholars have speculated that Washington's 1751 bout with smallpox rendered him sterile. Instead, Washington treated Martha's children from her first marriage, John Parke Custis and Martha 'Patsy' Parke Custis, as if they were his own. Sadly, he would outlive them both; Patsy died of an epileptic seizure in 1773 at the age of 17, while John died of 'camp fever' in 1781 while serving at Yorktown. After their deaths, Washington found joy in raising John's children.

Washington spent the 1760s tending to his beloved home of Mount Vernon, where wheat and tobacco were grown and harvested by hundreds of slaves; over the course of Washington's lifetime, 577 enslaved people lived and worked at Mount Vernon. Although Washington was not considered a cruel slaveowner by the standards of the day, his slaves often had to subsist on insufficient rations, live in cramped, one-room dwellings, and exist perpetually under the supervision of Washington's overseers; Washington also had no qualms about whipping or selling enslaved people who tried to run away. Washington's views on the institution of slavery evolved over time and, by the advent of the Revolution, he found the practice to be abhorrent. Nevertheless, he did little to work toward the abolition of slavery and, indeed, continued to rent and purchase slaves until his death.

As Washington concerned himself with his life at Mount Vernon, tensions between Britain and the Thirteen Colonies were escalating. Disagreement over the colonists' rights and liberties – expressed over the constitutional authority of Parliament to issue tax policies like the Stamp Act and Townshend Acts , policies which the colonists had never consented to – led to riots and incidents of violence like the Boston Massacre (1770). Washington increasingly sided against Parliament; his status as one of Virginia's leading citizens automatically made him a leader in the colony's Whig, or Patriot, movement. In 1774, he attended the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia and helped train Virginia militias for potential conflict with British soldiers. When, on 19 April 1775, blood was spilled at the Battles of Lexington and Concord , Washington was prepared to fight for his homeland.

Commander-in-Chief

On 14 June 1775, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Continental Army and nominated Washington as its commander-in-chief; their decision was informed both by Washington's military experience and because they felt the southern colonies were more likely to rally behind one of their own. On 2 July, Washington rode into the army headquarters of Cambridge, Massachusetts, where the Continental Army was carrying out the Siege of Boston . Washington was dismayed to find that his new army was little more than a jumble of undisciplined colonial militias, and immediately went to work drilling the troops and enforcing strict discipline. In early 1776, he finally found an opportunity to win the siege, when Colonel Henry Knox arrived with heavy artillery captured from Fort Ticonderoga, which Washington positioned on the Dorchester Heights overlooking Boston. Rather than face an artillery bombardment, the British evacuated the city by sea on 17 March, and Boston fell back into American hands.

Washington then marched his army to New York City, which he correctly predicted would be the next target of the British. In July, as he was preparing the city's defenses, he received word that the Congress had declared the independence of the United States; on 9 July, Washington assembled his army and read the Declaration of Independence aloud to his cheering soldiers. Meanwhile, a British army of 32,000 men was gathering on nearby Staten Island. The British finally struck at the Battle of Long Island (27 August 1776), pushing Washington's men off their fortifications atop the Heights of Guan and inflicting over 2,000 American casualties. The British could have defeated the Continental Army there and then, had Washington not been able to successfully evacuate his troops from Long Island during the stormy night of 29-30 August. He was, however, forced to abandon New York City, which was occupied by the British on 15 September.

Over the next several weeks, Washington was chased through lower New York and New Jersey, fighting desperate actions at Harlem Heights (16 September), White Plains (28 October), and Fort Washington (16 November) as his army was whittled away by attrition. By mid-December, his army had been reduced to barely 3,000 men, and many assumed it would not survive the winter. But Washington had come to believe that the success of the entire Revolution depended on the survival of his army and was therefore determined to preserve it at all costs. This led him to adopt a Fabian strategy, whereby he would avoid pitched battles whenever possible, preferring to wear down the enemy with minor raids and scorched earth tactics. This did not mean Washington was a timid commander, however, as he constantly looked for opportunities to strike at the enemy when their guard was down. In one such instance, Washington crossed the icy Delaware River on the night of 25 December 1776, surprising and defeating a Hessian garrison at the Battle of Trenton the next morning. This and his follow up victory at the Battle of Princeton (3 January 1777) galvanized renewed support for the Revolution.

The next year, Washington marched into Pennsylvania to defend the US capital of Philadelphia. He lost two hard-fought actions at the Battle of Brandywine (11 September) and Battle of Germantown (4 October) and was unable to prevent the British from occupying Philadelphia in late September. But the loss of the capital did not have the adverse effect on American morale that the British had hoped for. In December, Washington moved his army to Valley Forge , where he spent the winter implementing vital supply reforms, inoculating his soldiers against smallpox, and fending off a political threat to his leadership known as the Conway Cabal . During this time, officers like Baron Friedrich von Steuben retrained the Continental Army into a more disciplined and effective fighting force. When the Continental Army marched out of Valley Forge in June 1778, it was eager to put its new skills to the test – at the Battle of Monmouth (28 June), the Continentals fought the British to a standstill in scorching summer heat. That same year, France entered the war as a US ally.

Washington then moved his army outside New York City, maintaining that approximate position for the next two years as the focus of the war shifted to the South. Washington dispatched his trusted general Nathanael Greene to lead the southern army, as he remained in the North to keep an eye on the sizable British presence on Manhattan. In autumn 1781, Washington finally led a combined Franco-American army south, to lay siege to a British army under Lord Charles Cornwallis , which was trapped in Yorktown, Virginia. Caught between Washington's army on land and the French navy at sea, Cornwallis had no choice but to surrender to Washington on 19 October 1781, ending the active phase of the war. Two years later, the Treaty of Paris of 1783 was finalized, and in November, the last British soldiers evacuated New York City.

Constitutional Crisis

In December 1783, Washington resigned as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and returned to Mount Vernon, intending to retire to a life of gentleman farming. For the next several years, he oversaw his beloved plantation as national concern began to grow over the feebleness of the Articles of Confederation ; under the Articles, which kept the federal government weak to protect the sovereignty of the states, Congress was powerless to raise taxes or put down armed insurrections such as Shays' Rebellion (1786-87). Washington eventually concluded that the Articles would have to be totally replaced, and hesitantly agreed to serve as the president of the Constitutional Convention when it met in Philadelphia in May 1787.

The Convention produced a new framework of government, the United States Constitution, that was ratified by the necessary nine states by 1788. The new Constitution called for the election of a president to serve as the nation's chief executive; there was never any question that Washington was the man for the job, and indeed, no other candidate was seriously considered. In the US presidential election of 1789 , the electors unanimously voted him in as the first president, with John Adams elected vice president. Washington was inaugurated on 30 April 1789 at Federal Hall in New York City, burdened with defining the office of the presidency and guiding the fragile young republic through the tumultuous years to come.

During his two terms in office, Washington utilized the same caution that had served him so well on the battlefield. He refrained from adopting any title or official procedure that smacked of monarchy – preferring to go by the humble title of 'Mr. President' – and held himself aloof from the partisanship that was bubbling in his cabinet. In the first years of the Washington Administration, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton proposed a controversial financial program that called for the federal government to assume state debts and for the establishment of a national bank. This plan was hotly opposed by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and his southern supporters. Hamilton and Jefferson frequently clashed in cabinet meetings until the Compromise of 1790, in which Jefferson agreed to support Hamilton's plan in return for the new Federal City – to be named in Washington's honor – to be built on the Potomac River. The partisan struggles were only beginning, however, and would escalate throughout the remainder of Washington's presidency and beyond.

In 1794, the Whiskey Rebellion broke out in western Pennsylvania, when farmers rose in revolt against a new liquor excise tax imposed by Hamilton. Washington, though initially reluctant to resort to military force, raised a 13,000-man federalized militia that suppressed the rebellion without having to fight a single battle. The incident strengthened the authority of the federal government. The Washington Administration also prosecuted the Northwest Indian War (1790-1795), which was fought between the US and a coalition of Native American nations for control of the Northwest Territory. General 'Mad' Anthony Wayne led US troops to victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, forcing the Native Americans to cede their claims in the territory to the US in the resultant Treaty of Greenville; the British, who had offered clandestine support to the natives, were also compelled to abandon their forts in the region.

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Much of Washington's second term was defined by the concurrent French Revolution (1789-1799), which was engulfing Europe in a total war. Although Jefferson and the emerging Democratic-Republican Party urged him to support Revolutionary France, Washington pursued a policy of neutrality and refused to get involved in the French Revolutionary Wars . Controversy over this decision was compounded by the Jay Treaty of 1794, which strengthened the United States' economic ties to Britain. Both of these issues provided fodder for the growing rivalry between the Democratic-Republicans and Hamilton's Federalist Party.

Retirement & Death

At the end of his second term, Washington decided not to stand for reelection; his refusal to seek a third term set a precedent followed by every subsequent US president except for Franklin D. Roosevelt. Washington gave his Farewell Address on 19 September 1796, in which he famously warned of the dangers of political parties. He left office when his term expired on 4 March 1797 and returned to Mount Vernon. On the evening of 12 December 1799, after a day spent in the rain, supervising farming activities on horseback, Washington returned to the house with a sore throat. He fell severely ill the next morning and was heavily bled four times by his doctors. He died at 10 pm on 14 December 1799, at the age of 67. His death was mourned both in the United States and across the Western world, where he was hailed as a champion of freedom and liberty.

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Bibliography

• Anderson, Fred. The War That Made America. Penguin Books, 2006.
• Boatner, Mark M. Cassell's Biographical Dictionary of the American War of Independence. London: Cassell, 1973., 1973.
• Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton. Penguin Books, 2005.
• Fleming, Thomas . The Strategy of Victory. Hachette Audio, 2017.
• Freeman, Douglas Southall. Washington. Simon & Schuster, 1995.
• George Washington and Slavery , accessed 8 Aug 2024.
• George Washington Biography - Encyclopedia Britannica , accessed 8 Aug 2024.
• McCullough, David. 1776. Simon & Schuster, 2006.
• Middlekauff, Robert. The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789. Oxford University Press, 2007.
• Wood, Gordon S. Empire of Liberty. Oxford University Press, 2009.

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George Washington

Introduction.

Washington’s achievements were many. He led the American colonial army to victory in the American Revolution . After the war he helped produce the U.S. Constitution . Finally, he served for eight years as the first president of the United States.

Early Life and Career

At age 16, Washington joined a group sent to survey unknown lands on the Virginia frontier. In 1749 he became the official surveyor of Culpeper county. After Lawrence’s death in 1752, Washington became head of Mount Vernon and one of the richest planters in Virginia. Enslaved people did most of the work on his estate.

American Revolution

The fighting lasted for six difficult years. The army’s lowest point was the winter of 1777–78, which it spent at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Many soldiers died from the cold, and more than 2,000 deserted. Washington held the army together, however, and continued fighting. Finally, in 1781, the British surrendered.

Washington believed in a strong federal, or central, government. He also believed that the United States should remain neutral, or not take sides, in foreign affairs. Political parties developed because of his views. The Federalists, such as Alexander Hamilton, supported Washington’s ideas. The Democratic-Republicans, such as Thomas Jefferson, defended the power of the states. Washington tried to keep a balance between the two parties.

Another problem faced by Washington was finding ways to pay the expenses of the new government. Congress passed taxes on certain products, including whiskey. In 1794 farmers in Pennsylvania rebelled against the whiskey tax. Washington sent about 13,000 soldiers to end the rebellion. His actions showed the power of the federal government.

Retirement and Death

Washington was honored in many ways after his death. In 1800 the U.S. capital was moved from Philadelphia to the new city of Washington, D.C. The city is also the site of the Washington Monument , which was built in 1884. Washington’s birthday is remembered every February on Presidents’ Day .

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Biography Online

George Washington Biography

“The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for giving to Mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation.”

– George Washington

George Washington was born in 1732 in Virginia. His family were wealthy and they owned many slaves who worked on the plantations. As a planter, he felt constrained by British regulations and taxes and this proved one factor in encouraging him to fight the British in the later Wars of Independence. As well as working as a planter, Washington was interested in military matters and exploring the Western territories. In May 1775, his military experiences were used as delegates voted Washington to be head of the US Continental Army.

“Let us therefore animate and encourage each other, and show the whole world that a Freeman, contending for liberty on his own ground, is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth.”

– General Orders, Headquarters, New York (2 July 1776).

The War of Independence was to last six years. Especially in the beginning, Washington had to deal with ill-trained and poorly equipped soldiers. In the early days of the war, he adopted a strategy of harassing the British but avoiding them in full-scale war. It was not until 1781 when, with the help of French forces, Washington was able to defeat the British at Yorktown.

After victory had been finalised in 1783, Washington resigned as Commander in Chief. He wanted to make the point that he would not become the  de facto military ruler. Washington wanted the new American constitution and democratic system to be used. To Washington, the new constitution and Declaration of Independence were a chance to institute a new type of government and society based on human rights.

“The foundation of our Empire was not laid in the gloomy age of Ignorance and Superstition, but at an Epoch when the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly defined, than at any former period.”  – Washington Circular to the States, 8 June 1783 .

As a successful military leader, Washington retained widespread support and, given the difficulties faced by the emerging republic, Washington stood for public office and the Presidency. By a large majority, Washington was elected the first President of America and he served from April 1789 to March 1797. As President, Washington skillfully kept the United States out of conflicts with Great Britain and France. This period of peace enabled the new country to improve its national finances and gain an important period of stability.

“In politics as in philosophy, my tenets are few and simple. The leading one of which, and indeed that which embraces most others, is to be honest and just ourselves and to exact it from others, meddling as little as possible in their affairs where our own are not involved. If this maxim was generally adopted, wars would cease and our swords would soon be converted into reap hooks and our harvests be more peaceful, abundant, and happy.”

In 1791, Washington imposed an excise duty on spirits. The Federal government needed to raise tax revenue for debts incurred by the war. The so-called ‘Whiskey Tax’ was deeply unpopular and many rebelled against tax officials who tried to collect the tax. Washington himself rode out to Western Pennsylvania to negotiate with the rebels. Although the tax was hard to collect, Washington avoided an escalation of the rebellion and helped to establish the principle of federal taxes.

Washington’s presidency helped to establish many protocols and traditions that are still in use today. This included the creation of a cabinet system, the inaugural address and title of Mr President. His Republican values had a lasting impact on American society and government. Despite being a popular president, he had to be persuaded to stand for a second term.  Both Thomas Jefferson (of Democrat-Republicans) and Alexander Hamilton (Federalist Party) put aside their policy difference to encourage Washington to stand for a second term. They believed Washington was the only one who could hold the new country together.

Washington agreed, but towards the end of his second term he grew weary of politics, in particular, he didn’t like the factionalization of politics into different parties. He refused to join the Federalists, despite mostly agreeing with their policies. In some respects, Washington preferred the idea of strong central government. Although he fought the British, he appreciated the strength of a unified political body. However, Washington was keen to avoid the pomp and ceremony associated with Monarchs.

In 1796, he published a Farewell Address which offered his thoughts on civic virtue and political governance. It expressed Washington’s belief in the virtue of the union of states, seeking a peaceful foreign policy and adherence to the constitution and democracy.

“The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize.”( Farewell address )

George Washington was widely considered to be an able administrator and person of exemplary character. Washington is considered to embody qualities of integrity, self-discipline, courage, honesty, resolve,  and respect for others.

“Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to appellation.”

George Washington died aged 67, on 14 December 1799, three years after his retirement, at his home of Mount Vernon. He succombed to a mystery illness where he felt cold and feverish. Doctors were summonded and they bled up to 40% of his blood – in a vain attempt to reverse the illness. His last words were

“’I am just going! Have me decently buried; and do not let my body be put into the vault less than three days after I am dead. Do you understand me? . . . Tis well!’”

Views on slavery

Washington rarely spoke against slavery in public. He knew how divisive the issue was and feared it could split the emerging union. Washington rarely addressed the issue during his presidency, but he did pass the Slave Trade Act of 1794, which limited America’s involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. On a personal note, he did inherit slaves from his father’s plantations. As a young man he purchased another 8 slaves. During his life, he became more concerned about the issue, and aware of the human cost of the practise.

“The unfortunate condition of the persons, whose labour in part I employed, has been the only unavoidable subject of regret. To make the Adults among them as easy & as comfortable in their circumstances as their actual state of ignorance & improvidence would admit; & to lay a foundation to prepare the rising generation for a destiny different from that in which they were born; afforded some satisfaction to my mind, & could not I hoped be displeasing to the justice of the Creator.” – Comment by George Washington, recorded by David Humphries

He left provisions in his will to free his slaves after his death.

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan . “Biography of George Washington”, Oxford, www.biographyonline.net. Updated: 8th February 2017. Last updated 13 November 2019.

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U.S. Presidents

George washington.

First president of the United States

The son of a landowner and planter, George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, in the British-ruled colony of Virginia . His father died when he was 11, and his older brother, Lawrence, helped raise him. Washington was educated in basic subjects including reading, writing, and mathematics, but he didn’t attend college. Not much else is known about his childhood. Stories about his virtues—such as his confession of chopping down his father’s cherry tree—were actually invented by an admiring writer soon after Washington’s death.

During his 20s, he fought as a soldier in the French and Indian War, Great Britain’s fight with France over the Ohio River Valley territory. After the war, Washington returned to Virginia to work as a farmer.

Virginians elected Washington to their colonial legislature, or government, when he was 26. Soon after, he married Martha Dandridge Custis, a wealthy widow with two young children. They settled at Mount Vernon, a family home Washington had inherited.

REVOLUTIONARY WAR HERO

As a government official, Washington spoke out against unfair laws, such as high taxes, during Great Britain’s rule. In 1774 and 1775, he was one of Virginia’s representatives at the First and Second Continental Congresses, a group of representatives from the 13 colonies that would eventually become the United States. The Second Congress helped future third president, Thomas Jefferson , write the Declaration of Independence in July 1776, proclaiming that the 13 colonies were now independent states, no longer under British rule. An army was formed to oppose the British, and Washington was selected to lead it.

For five years, Washington served as the head of the army as the Revolutionary War against the British raged. The British finally surrendered in 1781 at Yorktown, Virginia. Washington was now a hero, seen as an important person who helped the colonies finally gain independence from Great Britain . After the war, Washington retired from the army and returned to private life.

PATH TO PRESIDENCY

After the end of the war, the former colonies operated under the Articles of Confederation, a document that placed most power with the states. For example, each state printed its own money. There was no national leader. The individual states were not supporting each other as one country, and the new nation seemed to be in trouble.

In 1787 state representatives gathered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , at the Constitutional Convention to fix these problems. There, the delegates wrote the Constitution of the United States. This document created a strong federal government: two chambers of legislators (also called lawmakers), a federal court system, and a president. The Constitution still serves as the foundation for the United States government today.

Based on the Constitution’s directions, states chose representatives to elect a president. Washington won the vote, making him the first-ever president of the United States. John Adams received the second most votes and became vice president.

SETTING TRADITIONS

As the nation’s first president, Washington set the example for other presidents. He worked out how the nation would negotiate treaties with other countries. He decided how the president would select and get advice from cabinet members. He also established the practice of giving a regular State of the Union speech, a yearly update on how the country is doing. He appointed federal judges and established basic government services such as banks. As president, he also worked hard to keep the new country out of wars with Native Americans and European nations.

During Washington’s time as president, New York City was the nation’s temporary capital; then Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although Washington helped plan a permanent national capital, his presidency ended before the federal government moved to the city later named in his honor: Washington, D.C.

LASTING LEGACY

After serving two back-to-back terms as president, Washington retired to Mount Vernon in 1797. He died two years later on December 14, 1799. Washington, who kept one of the largest populations of enslaved people in the country, arranged in his will for them to be freed by the time of his wife’s death. After his death, he was praised as being "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."

• Washington is the only president to have a state named for him. • The first president was so worried about being buried alive, he insisted mourners wait at least three days before burying him. Just in case. • The first president is the only president not to live in the White House.

From the Nat Geo Kids books Our Country's Presidents by Ann Bausum and Weird But True Know-It-All: U.S. Presidents by Brianna Dumont, revised for digital by Avery Hurt

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George Washington | Biography

Who was george washington.

Owing to Washington’s military experiences and his unrelenting stance against the British, he was elected as the Commander-in-Chief on 16 June 1775. 

As the Commander-in-Chief, Washington led the Continental Army during America’s Revolutionary War against Britain between 1785 to 1783. The war resulted in the North American English colonies’ independence from Britain and the modern-day USA’s eventual formation.

Early Bio and Childhood

Military career.

Spurred by his late brother’s military service as adjutant general, he sought a commission with Virginia’s Lieutenant Governer. The governor appointed him Major and gave him command of one of the four militia districts in Virginia. 

In 1753, for one of his first war assignments, Washington was appointed as the special envoy to Fort LeBoeuf, now known as Waterford, Pennsylvania, to demand the French to leave the territory that the British had initially claimed. The French declined the orders, and thus, this event was to be the first among several critical moments in Washington’s war history. 

French And Indian War

Commanding the virginia militia.

In August 1955, Washington was  appointed  as the commander of the Virginia militia. He was tasked with patrolling and protecting a border of about 400 miles (643 km). 

Washington didn’t serve as the commander for very long as his health deteriorated at the end of 1757. He contracted dysentery and was sent home back for recovery. 

American Revolutionary War

George Washington didn’t initially support the idea of America’s independence from Britain. However, he changed his mind after Britain started imposing unreasonable taxes by making amendments in the law,  including the  Stamp Act 1765  and the   Townshend Acts 1767.

By 1767, Washington was a vocal critic of the growing oppression of American colonists by the crown. Later, in 1769, he filed a motion requesting Virginia to boycott Britain’s goods until they removed the earlier imposed taxes.

Washington was then promoted as the Commander-in-Chief and Major General of the rebel troops on 15 June 1775, nearly two months after the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

Moving Across Delaware

Valley forge.

A unanimous vote was passed, which elected George Washington to the United States’ first presidency on 30 April 1789. On the said day, Washington stood on Federal Hall’s balcony in Wall Street, New York, and swore in on his position.

But, in totality, George Washington was considered to have had two moderately successful Presidential terms. 

During his terms, he set back a war with Britain, established boundaries with Canada, and created an international trade environment.

Death & Legacy

Fact-checking and ethical concerns.

If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.

- George Washington

George Washington - The Founding Father

George Washington, fondly referred to as the "father of his country," was the first President of the United States of America, the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army during the American War for Independence, and one of the U.S. Founding Fathers. His life began in the countryside of Westmoreland County, Virginia on February 22, 1732. Born to Augustine and Mary Ball Washington, middle class farmers and plantation owners, George learned about farming at a young age after the early death of his father. Also, the untimely death of his father prevented young George from advancing past an elementary level education. Looking to advance himself vocationally and develop independence from his mother, George Washington became a surveyor for Culpeper County at the age of seventeen. This well-paying job was awarded to George mainly as a result of his connections with the wealthy and influential Fairfax family, a connection that George possessed because of his older brother Lawrence's involvement in both the Ohio Company (a land company funded largely by the Fairfax family) and the Virginia militia. Following a trip to Barbados with Lawrence, George contracted smallpox. He survived, but Lawrence died soon after the trip as a result of tuberculosis. The death of Lawrence opened up leadership positions in the Virginia milia; one of these open positions was given to George. Washington was now the the district adjutant militia leader for the Virginia militia.

Shortly after Washington received his new military position, conflict arose between France and Great Britain over the claim to western lands in North America, specifically, land in the Ohio Country. The British investing company known as the Ohio Company had laid claim to much land in the Ohio Valley. Because of the personal interests of several Ohio Company investors in Virginia and on orders from the government of Great Britain, the governor of the colony of Virginia, Robert Dinwiddie, sent a militia group to the Ohio lands to request the leave of French forces that had gathered there. George Washington graciously received the invitation to lead this expedition. After delivering the notice of claimed British lands to the French forces, Washington returned to Virginia. However, Governor Dinwiddie soon sent him back to the Ohio territory to oversee the building of a British military fort. While on his second expedition, Washington decided to attack a French militia unit under the command of Joseph de Jumonville. With the help of an Indian ally named Tanacharison, Washington's men secured a hasty victory. Either during the battle or afterwards in the taking of prisoners, Jumonville was killed. A retaliation by the French led to the capture of Washington and much of his militia at Fort Necessity; however, he was set free to return to Virginia soon afterwards. There was conjecture that Washington himself murdered the French commander or that he died at the hands of Tanacharison. Regardless, this incident was crucial in beginning the French and Indian War between France and Great Britain in North America in 1756.

During the French and Indian War, Washington saw action in battle at the Battle of the Monongahela. Serving as the chief American aide to the British General Edward Braddock, Washington rallied the British troops after an ambush by French and Indian forces left many of the British officers dead or wounded and the troops in a state of disarray. His bravery and the fact that he narrowly escaped the battle unharmed himself (he was shot four times through his coat and lost two horses from underneath him) helped to bolster Washington's reputation as a war hero. This resulted in Governor Dinwiddie appointing George Washington to Commander in Chief of the Virginia militia. He spent most of his efforts as commander defending the Virginia frontier from hostile Indian attacks. Although he lost many men as a result of these expeditions, he did succeed in making the Virginia frontier one of the safest among the colonies for settlers. Additionally, Washington served alongside the British army as the French and Indian conflict waged on. He was hardly successful in this, blundering his role in the Forbes Expedition to capture the western French Fort Duquesne. He unwittingly led his troops to open fire on a British unit, leading to casualties from friendly fire. George Washington resigned from the Virginia militia after this mistake, but still learned much from his early experiences in war, particularly the tactics of the British military with their strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, many of Washington's later political views were first birthed during this time in his life: he recognized the need for a strong central government that had the ability to act quickly and definitively. Based on this belief, he would later come to espouse the political views of the Federalist Party.

Following his service in the French and Indian War, Washington returned to civilian life with his marriage to Martha Dandridge Custis, a wealthy widow. Not only did George Washington increase his wealth and the size of his estate with this marriage, but also he became a father to Mary's children John Parke Custis and Martha Parke Custis. George and Martha never had any children of their own. Washington acquired even more land because of his service in the French and Indian War; Governor Dinwiddie awarded over 20,000 acres of land in the Ohio territory to George Washington. With this significant increase in land and wealth, Washington rose in Virginian society to the level of an aristocrat and became involved in local politics as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1758.

Washington's involvement in politics, however, soon landed him back on the battlefield. After actively opposing the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend Acts, Washington drew up a proposal to boycott British goods until the repeal of these unfair taxes on the American colonies. Soon, the fighting with Great Britain became more than political. During the summer of 1775, Washington was appointed the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army by the American colonies' legislative body, the Continental Congress. As Commander in Chief, Washington was responsible for leading the Continental army, training the army, and serving as the public face of the American Revolution.

The American War for Independence began with the two skirmishes at Lexington and Concord. Washington was not directly involved in these preliminary battles, as he became Commander in Chief directly afterwards. Washington's time as the commander of the colonial forces was full of both victories and significant defeats. At the beginning of the war, George Washington drove the British out of the major city of Boston, but then lost the great city of New York shortly after. Following this great defeat, Washington gave life back to the colonial efforts by winning small battles at both Trenton and Princeton, New Jersey in December 1776. The next year, the British, under the command of General Howe, defeated Washington's army at Philadelphia and captured the city that served as the rebel forces political capital. This significant loss prompted several members of the Continental Congress to question Washington's competency as the leader of the Continental Army. Despite the doubts about Washington, enough support remained among the army and the political leaders of the colony for the commander to keep his title. The winter of 1777 saw the colonial army encamped at Valley Forge, where they suffered massive casualties, mainly from disease. Following this bitter winter, Washington followed the British army as they evacuated the recently captured city of Philadelphia to retreat to their stronghold at New York. Washington attempted to attack them at the Battle of Monmouth, but this proved to end in a stalemate. The winter of 1779-1780 was another difficult season for Washington and his men. Supplies ran scarce once again, and the treason committed by Benedict Arnold became public. However, the next summer proved to be more successful. Aided by their ally France with both ground troops and a naval force, George Washington delivered a decisive victory over the British in the Battle of Yorktown. A formal peace treaty was not signed until September 1783, the Treaty of Paris. Shortly thereafter, Washington retired to his estate in Mount Vernon, Virginia to attend to his lands and farms.

George Washington's retirement was brief, as he was called to the Constitutional Convention to assist in crafting a government for the newly independent colonies. Serving as the president of the Convention, he strongly disapproved of the proposed Articles of Confederation, claiming that they would establish a weak central government for the new nation. Following the ratification of the Constitution (the replacement for the Articles of Confederation), George Washington was unanimously elected as the first President of the United States of America in 1789. He reluctantly was elected to a second term in 1792. As the first U.S. President, George Washington set many precedents: he opted to serve only two terms, he removed all royal "flair" from the office of President, he initiated public addresses to Congress, and he formed a cabinet of personal advisers to assist him in making leadership decisions. Additionally, he tended to favor and promote the actions of a strong central federal government. For example, in 1794, Washington sent state militias to suppress what became known as the Whiskey Rebellion, a protest to an excise tax on distilled spirits that had been implemented by Congress three years earlier. Both his show of force and his support of taxation by the central government proved George Washington's support of the Federalist principles of strong federal government. In foreign affairs, Washington adopted a policy of diplomacy and neutrality throughout his presidency. After the end of his second presidential term, Washington penned his Farewell Address, in which he urged the young nation to practice national unity, abide by the Constitution, uphold morality, and adopt international independence in foreign affairs.

George Washington retired to his Mount Vernon home once again in 1797 upon the completion of his presidency and political career. He devoted most of his time to caring for and expanding his estate. However, he did accept a military leadership position the following year as the senior officer of the United States Army as tensions with France heightened. On December 13, 1799, Washington came down with a severe sore throat and other cold-like symptoms. His symptoms rapidly progressed, and doctors were called to his aide at his home. A believer in the ineffective medical practice of bloodletting, in which a sick patient is bled in order to rid the body of disease, Washington allowed the three physicians attending to him to bleed almost half of his body's blood supply. When he died around 10:00 pm on December 14, it was most likely due to shock. George Washington's death was publicly mourned not only in the United States but also in several European nations. The legacy of George Washington is one that will not be soon removed from both the iconic and factual history of the U.S.A. From his title as the "father of his country" to his portrait on the American dollar to a monument constructed to his honor in America's capital city, George Washington was indeed "first in war-first in peace-and first in the hearts of his countrymen." Today, George Washington is recognized as the most admired U.S. president in history, along with Abraham Lincoln .

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Celebrities, entertainment, george washington - biography of america's first president.

Beyond cherry trees and wigs, delve into the real George Washington. Explore his military genius, political triumphs, and complex legacy in this comprehensive biography.

.zklaml-y51p0m{color:inherit;font-size:inherit;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;text-decoration-thickness:1px;}.zklaml-y51p0m:hover{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}.zklaml-y51p0m:hover::after{content:" #";opacity:0.6;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;} The Early Years Of George Washington

When Was George Washington Born - Where Was George Washington Born

How tall was george washington.

• 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) - This is the most commonly cited height, based on various accounts and comparisons to furniture and other objects.
• 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) - Some sources suggest this slightly shorter stature, based on European clothing measurements of the time.
• 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) - This taller estimate comes from anecdotal accounts and comparisons to portraits and statues.

Officer And Gentleman Farmer

What Did George Washington Do

George washington in the american revolution.

The First President Of The United States

When Did George Washington Became President

How old was george washington when he became president, george washington's achievements.

George Washington's Retirement, Return To Mount Vernon, And Passing

When Did George Washington Die - How Did George Washington Die

Where is george washington buried, frequently asked questions - george washington, was george washington a slave owner, did george washington have wooden teeth, was it true that george washington chopped down his father's cherry tree, .zklaml-1mysgrz{display:-webkit-box;-webkit-line-clamp:1;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;overflow:hidden;-webkit-line-clamp:2;} the early years of george washington.

Emily Sanchez

Elisa Mueller

How George Washington’s Personal and Physical Characteristics Helped Him Win the Presidency

On February 4, 1789, 69 representatives from the early American states cast their votes for the first president. Two months later, the results showed that every single one had voted for retired military general George Washington , making him the first (and last) to be elected to the office unanimously.

Although he didn't campaign and didn't want to leave the quiet life of his plantation, Washington was hardly surprised by the news. After all, he was a national hero for engineering the Continental Army's surprising victory in the American Revolution, and he had the full respect and admiration of his fellow statesmen. As Henry Lee later put it, Washington had become "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."

Still, there was a man behind the myth, and it was the combination of his characteristics, some innate and others carefully developed, that made Washington the obvious choice to take charge at this stage of the nascent country's history.

Washington had a strong moral character

While the story of young Washington admitting to felling a cherry tree was invented by a biographer, the fable underscores the degree to which he was held as a person of impeccable character.

Learning to control his ambitions and temper as a young man, he impressed colleagues with an even-keeled demeanor and adherence to strong moral values. Observed Abigail Adams , wife of Washington's vice president, John Adams : "He is polite with dignity, affable without formality, distant without haughtiness, grave without austerity; modest, wise and good."

Washington's lofty reputation was upheld by his actions. He refused to be paid for commanding the Continental Army, only requesting to be reimbursed for expenses, and he resigned his military commission after his popularity surged at the close of the Revolution, putting his allegiance to the republic ahead of a desire for personal gain.

He was easy to talk to

Although he was born into the Virginia gentry, Washington did not travel abroad for the private education that was provided to his older half-brothers. So he was acutely aware of his perceived shortcomings and took pains to mold himself into a dignified gentleman.

This involved the memorization of The Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour In Company and Conversation , a guide written by Jesuit priests 150 years earlier, as well as the study of the noblemen in his life and acquired proficiency in activities like dancing, fencing and horsemanship.

Washington's mastery of social interaction naturally translated to the political arena. For all his authority, he came across as agreeable in conversation and sought to find areas of common ground. His political skill went a long way toward bridging the quarreling sides at the 1787 Constitutional Convention and ratifying the document now held sacred in American law.

Washington was large in stature and presence

As befitting a military hero, Washington cut a formidable presence. A contemporary in the 1750s described him as "measuring six feet two inches in his stockings and weighing 175 pounds. ... His frame is padded with well-developed muscles, indicating great strength." The admirer also praised Washington's "commanding countenance," as well as his "graceful" and "majestic" movements.

By the time he became president, the 57-year-old Washington was certainly less agile but even more imposing at upward of 200 pounds. By then he had survived an array of life-threatening situations, from contracting smallpox as a teenager and baptism by fire in the battlefields of the French and Indian War to the harsh winter of Valley Forge, rendering him a larger-than-life figure.

He dressed fashionably

Washington learned the value of sharp attire while studying the Virginia nobility he so admired, eventually noting that "nothing adds more to the appearance of a man than dress." This produced his devotion to a suitable wardrobe after establishing himself as a surveyor and a landowner, ordering garments from a London tailor to accommodate his height and long limbs.

Washington also understood the symbolic value of clothing: He arrived in full military uniform at the Second Continental Congress in 1775, signaling that he was ready to battle the British, and insisted that his servicemen also dress in a professional manner. As president, he dismissed the idea of appearing in the garish robes of European monarchs for portraits, preferring to be depicted in conservative American-made suits.

Washington studied hard so he could command with ease

While not regarded in the same vein as Thomas Jefferson , Alexander Hamilton and other heralded scholars of the era, Washington was no slouch in matters of intellect. From his early setbacks as a young officer, he studied military books to improve his understanding of battlefield strategies, gaining insights that shaped his directions during the crucial moments of the American Revolution.

Afterward, he became fully versed in principles of government and formed his own strong convictions as to what the burgeoning democracy should become. As a result, when it came time to move forward with the presidency, Washington was prepared to follow the guidance of his Jefferson-Hamilton cabinet and he was ready to lead with his own sense of direction, as he had done while commanding the charge for independence on the battlefield.

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George Rogers Clark

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James Monroe

President George Washington

• He was the only president unanimously elected. Meaning all of the state representatives voted for him.
• He never served as president in Washington D.C., the capital that was named for him. In his first year the capital was in New York City, then moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• He was six feet tall, which was very tall for the 1700s.
• The story of George Washington chopping down his father's cherry tree is considered fiction and likely never happened.
• George Washington did not have wooden teeth, but did wear dentures made from ivory.
• Washington gave freedom to his slaves in his will.
• Listen to a recorded reading of this page:

Biography of George Washington

By Mark Mastromarino

Surveying the Land: An Early Career for Young Washington

George Washington became the “Father of his country” despite having lost his own father at an early age. In 1743, when George was eleven years old, Augustine Washington died and left the bulk of his estate to George’s half-brothers. Lawrence inherited Little Hunting Creek plantation (which he later renamed Mount Vernon in honor of Admiral Edward Vernon under whom he had served in the War of Jenkins’ Ear), and Augustine, Jr., inherited the Westmoreland County plantation where George was born. George himself inherited the more modest Rappahannock River plantation where he lived with his mother and siblings, but this was not enough to maintain his middling status in the Virginia gentry. His half-brother Lawrence suggested that George enter on a career in the British navy, but George’s mother rejected the proposal. Instead, he was trained as a land surveyor, a profession of considerable importance in Virginia, where colonial settlement was pushing rapidly into the Shenandoah Valley and other parts of western Virginia.

Building a Record in the Military

Although Lawrence at that time possessed two of the great prerequisites of rising Virginia gentlemen-an inherited estate and impressive marriage connections-George enjoyed something more important in the long run: an impressive physique and the blessing of good health. Washington survived a case of smallpox while in the West Indies, thus acquiring immunity to the disease that claimed the lives of many colonial Americans, but his brother died in 1752 after returning from the Caribbean, probably of tuberculosis. Lawrence’s infant daughter, to whom he originally bequeathed Mount Vernon, died before reaching her majority, and in 1754 Washington leased the estate from Lawrence’s widow, Ann Fairfax Washington, who held a life title to it.

Washington’s burning ambition for personal distinction did not permit him to remain long content as a tobacco planter but compelled him to seek out honor on the battlefield. He persuaded the Virginia governor to appoint him to his deceased brother’s adjutancy in 1752, which came with a commission as major and an annual salary of 100 pounds. He later transferred to the adjutancy of Virginia’s Northern Neck and Eastern Shore with the responsibility of training the Northern District’s militiamen.

In October 1753 Washington volunteered to investigate reports of French encroachments on Virginia’s western frontier that threatened the interests of the colony’s great land speculators. Upon the return to Williamsburg of his small party from the shores of Lake Erie in January 1754, Washington received popular recognition through the publication of his detailed journal of the rugged four-month-long expedition. That May the tweenty-one-year-old became commander of the Virginia Regiment, raised to oppose the French in the Ohio Valley, and French retaliation for the attack on a small party across the Alleghenies provided his first defeat-the surrender of the hastily-constructed Fort Necessity in July 1754. Thus commenced the French and Indian War, the colonial phase of the Great War for Empire between the French in Canada and the British along the Atlantic seaboard and their respective colonists and native American allies. Washington learned much from the professionalism of British generals Edward Braddock and John Forbes under whom he served and earned a military reputation not only for courage and coolness under fire but also as an efficient administrator and a fair and able commander of men. He also developed a resentment of the British officials who denied him the regular army commission to which he aspired and proper respect for the contributions made by provincial troops in general and his Virginia Regiment in particular.

Love & Marriage

With his prestige enhanced by his military experiences and the potential of his land holdings vastly increased by bounties granted to officers and men of the Virginia Regiment (he owned 45,000 acres west of the mountains at his death), Washington returned to private life as a very eligible bachelor. On 6 January 1759 the twenty-six-year-old married Martha Dandridge Custis (1731-1802), the widow of Daniel Parke Custis, who had left her and their two children, John Parke and Martha Parke Custis, one of the greatest fortunes in Virginia. Washington was named their legal guardian two years later and devoted much time and energy over the next sixteen years managing the Custis estate. Also in 1761 he became the outright owner of Mount Vernon (which he expanded to about 7,300 acres by 1799) as his brother’s residual heir upon the death of Lawrence’s widow.

The master of Mount Vernon thus became one of the wealthiest planters in Virginia, and the next decade and a half of Washington’s life were probably his happiest years. Although he and Martha had no children of their own, the couple raised Martha’s children, and later two of her grandchildren, Eleanor and George Washington Parke Custis.

Washington’s domestic life was a full one. Virginia plantation lords not only supervised agricultural operations and marketed a staple commodity (Washington began to shift the Mount Vernon farms over from the traditional tobacco crop to wheat, for which he built his own gristmill), managed an enslaved labor force (in Washington’s case, of about 274 blacks), and provided sustenance, health care, and leadership for the entire plantation community. The deference that glued Virginia society together required gentlemen like Washington to manifest their social status by maintaining a lavish lifestyle modeled after that of the British landed gentry and aristocracy. Washington especially enjoyed the displays this entailed, such as renovating his mansion in the latest style and filling it with the finest furnishings, stocking his cellars with vintage Madeira, acquiring the best-blooded horses for his stables, keeping a deer park and riding to the hounds, conducting agricultural experiments, extending expansive hospitality to neighbors and strangers, and sacrificing some of his leisure time to serve in public office.

Politics & War

Washington was first elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1758 as a representative of Frederick County, and he was later elected by Fairfax County landholders, serving a total of sixteen years in the colonial assembly. From 1760 to 1774 he also sat as a justice of the Fairfax County court at Alexandria. In the imperial crisis of the 1760s and 1770s, he became an early advocate of the patriot cause. After Governor Dunmore dissolved the Assembly in 1774, Washington met with other disgruntled Burgesses at the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg and adopted a nonimportation agreement. That same year he was elected by the first Virginia Convention as a delegate to the First Continental Congress, which adopted Virginia’s program of economic coercion against the mother country. In May 1775, less than a month after a shooting war commenced at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, Washington again traveled to Philadelphia to take his seat in the Second Continental Congress. When it adopted the New England militia army that was besieging the British Army in Boston in June 1775, Congress recognized Washington’s military experience and political trustworthiness by unanimously electing him its commander-in-chief. Washington arrived at Cambridge headquarters on 2 July 1775 and did not see Mount Vernon again for another six years, although Martha traveled to Cambridge that December and shared in her husband’s difficulties throughout much of the war.

Well-aware of military geography, Washington directly marched his army to New York City, correctly guessing it would be the enemy’s next target, and he also sent detachments to Canada in an unsuccessful attempt to secure the other end of the vital Hudson-Champlain corridor by which the British could effectively isolate New England from the other rebellious colonies. He learned from his errors in the New York campaign, in which his only success was to save the army from total annihilation, and brilliantly counter-attacked at Trenton and Princeton, New Jersey, in the winter of 1776-1777. Washington’s greatest achievement, however, was to hold his little army together over the next two years in the face of public apathy, marginal state support, inadequate Congressional assistance, and a series of logistical and military frustrations at Valley Force and during the subsequent Philadelphia campaign. Only successful diplomatic efforts enlisting the assistance of the French army and navy enabled Washington to mount a strategic offensive. At Yorktown in 1781 he completed a successful siege operation in the traditional European style and captured Lord Cornwallis’s entire army; he later celebrated in typical understatement by naming one of his favorite greyhounds after the earl. Like the Roman hero Cincinnatus, Washington bid farewell to his comrades in arms in 1783, resigned his Continental commission, and retired to private life.

First President of a New Country

Washington’s return to Mount Vernon was not permanent, however, for he soon realized that the mission he had set himself in 1775 was only half completed. America had won independence from Great Britain, but did not achieve effective self-governance. According to a 1783 circular letter to the states, Washington felt that a respectable national existence required an indissoluble union of the states under one federal head, a sacred regard for public justice, the establishment of proper national defense, and the suppression of local prejudices. During the Revolution, the government under the Articles of Confederation was barely able to provide for the common defense, and after the war it failed to ensure domestic tranquility, especially in rural New England, where armed insurgents closed the Massachusetts courts. Washington lent the great military and political prestige he had gained as commander-in-chief to the cause of forming a more perfect union that would secure the blessings of liberty for which he had fought and so many had died.

The meeting of joint commissioners for Virginia and Maryland at Mount Vernon to work out a code for use of the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River (Washington had long been a proponent of canalizing the latter to create a water route to the interior), led to the Annapolis Convention of 1786, called to discuss regulation of interstate commerce. In 1787 Washington was chosen as a Virginia delegate to the Philadelphia Convention that was to revise the Articles of Confederation. Against his wishes Washington was elected presiding officer. The resulting Federal constitution that was adopted in September 1787 did not bear much of his handiwork, but it breathed the spirit of his strong nationalism, and his reputation was tied to its success. Not very surprisingly, Washington was elected president after it was ratified and became the first executive officer to serve under the new government. The same rigorous sense of duty that saw him through the Revolutionary War compelled the fifty-seven-year-old Washington to take the presidential oath of office on 30 April 1789 in the new federal capital of New York City. Dignity, common sense, political acumen gained from twenty years experience, and a keen judgment of men’s characters and abilities were his chief assets in dealing with the new Senate and House of Representatives, establishing general precedent, and making appointments. He had a difficult time in finding qualified individuals to serve in the new federal judiciary, but the heads of the executive departments of war, state, and the Treasury, were men of talent, integrity, and even brilliance. The president supported Treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton’s fiscal program of federal assumption of state war debts and the creation of a national bank, both of which chiefly benefited the monied classes, as the only viable way for the United States to restore its national credit and assume its proper rank among the nations. Even before the end of Washington’s first administration, opposition coalesced around secretary of state Thomas Jefferson and his friend congressman James Madison. These Virginia gentlemen favored a states’ rights view of strict interpretation of the Constitution, domestic policies favoring the landed interests, and a foreign policy aligned more closely to France than Britain.

With growing polarization between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans, Washington’s sense of duty prevented him from retiring after a single term. One final time he postponed retirement and again put his personal prestige on the line for the sake of the nation. Although he was unanimously elected to a second term as president, the nation was anything but united behind him. The small and ill-supplied United States Army suffered two disastrous defeats against Northwestern Indian nations. America found itself caught between warring European powers as the French Revolution reached an international phase. At home, the president called out the militia to put down an uprising in western Pennsylvania against Hamilton’s new excise tax on distilled spirits. Democratic-Republican criticisms that he had become the head of a party instead of the nation boiled over in reaction to the treaty that John Jay had signed with the British and the Senate ratified in 1795. Although Washington himself was not satisfied with its terms, he was realistic enough to understand that it was the best that could then be negotiated and it did remove some major irritants from Anglo-American relations. In the face of growing newspaper attacks against him, which he tended to take personally, the president handed the reins of government over to his successor, John Adams, in the spring of 1797. Washington knew that his leadership was no longer indispensable to the survival of the nation, and he left as his political testament to the American people his Farewell Address, which was widely printed in newspapers and broadsides.

The Final Chapter

Only once more was the General called from his beloved plantation to serve the country. As war with France appeared imminent in 1798, President Adams appointed Washington as commander-in-chief of a new army, but the crisis passed before it was organized and raised. He had only a short time left to enjoy life at Mount Vernon, and Washington died with the eighteenth century. His end came suddenly on 14 December 1799 and the outpouring of grief over his death was widespread and sincere. By providing in his will for the freedom of his own slaves after Martha’s death, the master of Mount Vernon added one final private statement to his long and valuable public career. The nation would have to wrestle with the challenge of slavery, as well as all its other great challenges of the new century, without his guiding hand.

© The Mount Vernon Ladies Association

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George Washington Timeline

February 22, 1732.

Late 1752–53

May 28, 1754

January 6, 1759.

September 1774

April 30, 1789

December 14, 1799